Red Dead Retribution
by Native Guns 13
Summary: After seeking revenge on Edgar Ross for the murder of his father, Jack now finds himself on the run from the law while also seeking out one of the same men his father once hunted to find the truth. Meanwhile, Agent Fordham is hot on his trail seeking to bring the new outlaw in dead or alive. Now Jack must seek out the same allies as his father 3 years ago. Rated M for adult content
1. Remember My Family

_okay so this is my first attempt at Red Dead Redemption but the game was fucking epic but I think that a lot of details were left out. I feel like they neglected a lot of shit about the west in that game and that Red Dead Revolver did a better job as far as what they showed of Native Americans and how they showed the buffalo soldiers too. Red Dead Redemption killed off Nastas the only major Native character and that wasn't cool. So I decided to write a story that would give them more of a big involvement. Same with Buffalo Soldiers. I only played a little of Red Dead Revolver though that's why I'm writing one for this._

_All though don't get it twisted i actually hate Buffalo soldiers and their history they helped massacre many of our people and yet they whined about racism? The very first of the buffalo soldiers were former slaves so now when they hardly got their own freedom they got and kill people trying to be free and take their freedom? Does this make sense to you because it doesn't for me. _

_Obviously the main character in this would be Jack Marston. He has finished off Edgar Ross but now he must go on a journey to find Archie Fordham, the other man who his father worked for. See Agent Fordham had nothing to do with John dying as he wasn't there but Jack doesn't know that! Meanwhile what if Archer went after him for shooting Edgar? In this story, he will despite what his parents wanted, end up being an outlaw. What happened to Bonnie? To Javier Escuela? (I chose to spare him.) Abraham Reyes became power hungry so will there be another Mexican uprising? Find out... Last thing, I will have a small conversation between Jack and John the day of the killing of John. _

_I should let everybody know this was a story originally that me and Afro Spirit were working on but due to our now estranged relationship and the fact that he wasn't doing anything with this story and I was the one who came up with the idea in the first place, I asked him to delete it and send the files to me. He's working on some revelations type story last i heard. Me and him had a falling out let's just leave it at that if you really wanna know you can PM me and ask but if not, just let it die._

_i mean I virtually came up with most of the plot, the bit with Miranda being in the story, Javier, Agent Fordham and all that stuff virtually the only thing he really came up with himself since this was a collaboration story originally, was the idea of Lester and Samuel and also the exploration deeper into the Stranger from the side quest I know you. Also he came up with some ideas for the bandits like Conner but still he wasn't really using this so what is the point?_

_That said, I am taking over this story and i have saved the files so thankfully i will not have to rewrite it all I can get them up and running very quickly._

_Now i noticed a few stories with similar dynamics and all though Afro had been the author to post it we both worked on this fanfic together a while ago and it had been out for some time before these other stories came around with similar themes involving Miranda and Jack. _

_There is even one called Red Dead Redemption: Retribution I mean no disrespect to that author but this story was out first i believe and in any case while the title is similar it is not the same. I am calling this as it was in the original version, Red Dead Retribution. I don't think there should be any confusion between the two. We both worked on the story, me and Afro but we weren't sure how two people could both work on a fanfiction being two people i guess they make another one both can use. In any case all right to this story was turned over to me I do not own any Rock Star characters just the OC's i have "Inherited" from my former friend and the OC's i myself come up with. _

_Ok Enjoy!_

* * *

_Chapter 1_

1911

(Flashback)

John awoke from an afternoon nap to the smell of supper being cooked. He walked to see Abigail cooking. "Boys, set the table!" She called. John grinned at his wife. "Aint no use in that, honey. We'll be gone soon enough. After the first bite I reckon."

She threw a rag at him playfully. "Evening, pa!" Jack said as he came in. "Howdy son. What are you reading there?" Jack looked down at it and said, "Same old book, pa. The one about the man looking for his fathers killer."

John chuckled. "Well I guess that's better than that crap with the Aztec king. Aztec masks and undead cannibals? That one gave me nightmares, son! What say you go for a walk with your old man? Just to kill time until the food is ready."

Jack shrugged. "Okay pa. Let's go."

They walked out onto the porch. John pulled out a cigarette and said, "Jack, I aint been the best father and for that I'm sorry so I intend to make that up to you. You say you're a man now. I believe you. Going off on your own with that bear was stupid but you held your own every other time we went hunting. You are a man. If you want, I'll tell you everything I did while your mother and you were gone."

Jack thought about it as indicated on his youthful face but he said, "Sure."

"Brace yourself. Its a very long story."

Finally much later toward evening, they finished their walk. "Pa, that was some story. Better than anything I ever read. I can't believe you had to go after Dutch and Bill. I thought those men were supposed to be men of the law. They just kidnapped us just to get you to do their dirty work?"

John nodded. "Yeah. They're crooks but hopefully they are also men of their word. This is our chance to turn our lives around Jack. I did what I had to but you have a shot at doing something with your life."

The next day had been a normal morning until U.S soldiers opened fire on John's farm. He had shot a lot of them but he was tired of running. He knew they would always follow him. These men had not lived up to their word. They were lying government crooks. Still, John knew he couldn't fight them. Maybe one day there would be a revolution and bastards like Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham would pay for being parasites like they were but John was tired of fighting. He had four gunshots wounds already, one in the left arm which he had taken from a soldier on horse back, another in the leg which he had taken before getting Jack and Abigail into the barn, and two in the side near the left rib cage which he had taken when defending the house right before Uncle was slain in the gunfight.

He felt tired. It could have been from the blood loss or it could have been that he really was just tired. He was only thirty seven years of age but somehow he felt like his life had been longer than that. Whoever said that life is too short was a goddamn liar. _It's a long and painful journey. _John had said goodbye to his wife and son moments ago. Though they did not know for sure, he knew they both had fear of losing him. He had found it hard to do he had to bid them farewell and do so in a way that would not have them wanting to stay in the thought that they could prevent his imminent death. So he had left them with love but also uncertainty. Whatever questions they had, whatever they would not get to say to him, he hoped one day he would see them again. Hopefully not too soon but he had an arising suspicion that Abigail would join him first which was the way it was supposed to be. He had seen her coughing a lot of the time when preparing supper. He knew what that was. It had to be. _The consumption._.. He realized. Those murdering bastards had gotten her sick somehow wherever she was.

She had been murdered by them and did not even know it yet! He felt frustration in his heart that they had taken her life as well but she would not die as quickly as he likely would. It brought tears to his eyes but he wiped them away. He knew soon he would face his maker.

The last six weeks John had spent doing unfinished tasks for people. On top of that he read the bible. Jack had charged him that he had never read him the bible before in his life but now he was reading it himself. In fact that day he had planned on dropping by the church to get baptized. He wanted to wash his sins away. Though he had not yet finished with the old testament, he had been required to study the new one a lot in order to be baptized. This was what he would have done if it had not been for them attacking his farm on Beecher's Hope.

He looked outside. He saw the posse out there waiting for him. Sure as the sun shined in the sky, there was Edgar Ross outside with his men. Briefly his hand touched his holster as he touched the barn door. He could not decide what to do. _Should I go down fighting these hypocrites or should I just face my fate? We all gotta die at some point..._He thought to himself.

_The lord is my Sheppard I shall not want. He maketh me to lie in green pastures he leadeth me besides still waters. He restorath my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake_

_Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anoints my head with oil my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me in all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever._

John opened the door as he finished praying. _So much for mercy...at least from men...I hope God will even if men couldn't..._He thought. His hand was still on the holster of his gun. He considered pulling it out but beyond the posse of men in front of him, he spotted a man. It was the strange man he had encountered before. The man who knew him but would not tell him his own name. John had shot at him but the rounds did not harm him. The man had his arms crossed watching John carefully.

John realized who that man was. He took his hand off his holster. He looked at the men who had guns on him. In that moment he remembered Abigail, how he had asked her if the bastards had hurt her and she said that one guard tried to and she made him regret it. Yet she did not even know about the insidious danger for her own life. What was worse was that he could not warn her.

In that realization he felt anger surge through his body. He had considered letting them shoot him dead and go out with a clean slate so as not to take any more lives. Still, what they had done to Abigail and to his son was unforgivable. John realized that if he decided to go out fighting, he would risk the possibility of going to hell even though he now feared it. It was worth it. Either in this life or the next if he had to go to his grave and even to hell for his wife and son, he would. John fired his pistol not even recalling pulling it out and he struck one of the agents with two rounds to the head. He shot another with three rounds to abdomen.

They fired. A storm of bullets hit John. He fell as the seemingly endless bullets bombed his tired body. He fell. Coughing and breathing hard. He saw a smirk on the face of Edgar Ross. He shook his head and left as did the rest of the posse.

Down the road John spotted the horse coming back with his wife and son on it. John's eyes felt heavy. He breathed his last._Protect them..._ was his last thought before everything went dark.

1914

Jack Marston was drinking at a saloon out in Armadillo. Jack had come to find Javier Escuela. From what his father had told him, he had spared him. He had a chance to kill him or arrest him and he arrested him. He had heard that Javier had in fact broken out of the prison he had been sent to and was now free. Though John had once been sent to hunt the man, it had ended up being all for nothing.

His father had brought men to justice not only to save him and his mother but also to be redeemed and given a chance to start fresh. To live a normal life on his farm with is family in peace. That had not happened. He had been ambushed and Uncle had been killed. John, the outlaw had ended up with more honor than the government. Javier Escuela was one of the men his father had brought to justice but since he was alive, maybe, just maybe Jack could find him. John had turned him over to the two agents so maybe he would know where they were.

He downed another shot. His father had luckily kept a journal detailing a lot of the people he had met during his journey to find the men he was after. He was reading it now all though the words were blurry. He had read a lot of the random strangers John had encountered as well as the people he had worked with when he needed information on the outlaws whereabouts or when he needed help from somebody. Though John was still only semi literate, Jack could make out what he was saying despite some misspelled words and his sloppy hand writing.

In frustration he set the journal down. He snapped his finger and pointed at the shot glass.

The bartender finally said, "I think you've had enough to drink mister."

Jack grabbed him by the tie. "I'll tell you when I've had enough to drink mister..." Jack was then grabbed from behind and thrown outside by two men. He tried to stand up but he fell to the ground passing out. He saw two dark silhouette's approaching as the two men went back in the saloon.

Later the next morning Jack awoke with a severe hangover. "Damn...head is killing me."

He looked up and went for his gun when he saw a man watching him. The man drew his own gun and said, "Now I don't mean you no harm child but don't pull a gun on me in my own home ya hear?" He was an elderly black man. With a graying beard. Jack looked at him. "Who are you? I'm not a child."

The man grinned. "You sure was when I last seen you. 1905. You was just ten. Tiny little thing. Do you remember me? I'm Joshua Freeman. My son used to be in a gang with your daddy. Along with Dutch and Bill Williamson and all them boys. My son was with ol' John when he was at that botched robbery. He got arrested that day. John was a good man though. I was real sorry to hear about what happened."

Jack sat up. "Your son was an outlaw? What made him get involved with the likes of my pa?"

Joshua sighed and sat down in a rocking chair near the bed. "Well, I's an escaped slave. Ran away from the plantation when I was twelve. We was helped by people in the Underground Railroad. Helped out by Ms. Tubman herself. Later, I ended up helping other slaves escape. We heard there were other colored soldiers fighting in the war when it came time."

Jack nodded. "Now I remember you. I was eleven when that robbery went down. I remember Ellis. Me and his sons used to go to the woods and play with sticks, pretend we were sword fighters. Then when my pa got shot in that robbery we had to leave. Its been a long time. I almost forgot."

He let the old man continue.

He paused to clear his throat. "I joined up with them. I was a United States Colored Trooper. I even fought at the battle of Nashville. I was all too happy to kill an army full of slave owners. I got wounded that day. Shrapnel. I's mighty lucky I didn't have to lose my leg when the war was done, I began working at the mines. I never got paid much. Even though I fought the same as them white boys, I couldn't drink at the bars or saloons. There was a lot of whites only signs. Still are! I fought for my freedom but I also fought for this here country!"

Jack listened with patience. "By the time I had my son, I had to go from job to job. Married a good woman. She taught him to read. Taught me to read better but my eye sight just aint what it used to be. Then, he got old enough to be a working man. He helped me as a farm hand a lot of the time. Still we never got paid fairly. Then one day, the Klan up and lynched my wife when she slapped the sheriff for putting hands on her."

Jack could see sadness in his eyes.

"My son lost it. So he shot the man that did it. He shot at least three of those Klan boys. Then we had to leave the south. We knew they'd burn us down if we didn't. Ellis was angry. Lord he was an angry boy. I tried to reunite with all the family after the war was over so we wouldn't be separated no more. We tried to make a living but people was too harsh. I went with him. We robbed banks. I shouldn't have gone down that road. I gave it up in the 1880's. but Ellis couldn't stop. Later in life he met Bill, Dutch and them. He got even crazier and he had a little son of his own."

He sighed. "He got shot and arrested. He took the fall. I guess your papa escaped somehow. They tried to get him to squeal but he wouldn't.. Then they said they'd lynch him so instead of squealing on your pa he became an informant. He gave them information on the Bollard gang. He helped them gave them the names of places they'd be robbing. Finally they left him alone in 1909. Then some of them federal agents shot him three years later.," The man had tears in his eyes.

"I's supposed to be buried by my son not the other way round! I can't believe I fought for them and the government wronged us..."

A young man appeared at the door. "Grandpa , who's the cracker?" A young clean shaven black man asked. He wore a pressed ironed white shirt. "That there is John Jack Marston. Remember him? Ya'll used to play swords like you was gladiators."

The young man was Lester Freeman. "He aint upsetting you, is he pa?"

Joshua laughed a hearty laugh wiping the tears from his eyes. "Not all son! Not at all. We was just reminiscing."

Jack nodded at Lester. "Hello, Les. How you doing old partner?"

Lester glared. "I'm your your partner. Not since you left."

Joshua's face was soft and he looked at Jack. "I know you mean well he just took it hard when you left. You were the only white kid that didn't call him a nigger or try to fight him. That boy practically grew up fighting the kids out there."

Jack sighed. "That aint my fault. I had my own problems. A lifetime amount. It wasn't my choice to move."

Just then he spotted another man, whom he recognized as Lester's older brother. "Howdy Samuel!" He called. Samuel came in and he said, "Do I know you?"

Jack nodded. "Sure do. Remember ten years ago? West Elizabeta? Think real hard."

Samuel did not look nearly as angry as Lester had just a moment ago. In fact he was a peaceful looking man. "Little Jack? Is that you? You've grown! Look at you! I never thought I'd see the day!" They shook hands. "How are you Sammy? Its been too long."

"I'm just living day by day. I'm always looking for work. There's always work in these parts, just gotta go and find it before somebody else. Say, Jack what brings you to these parts?"

Jack sighed. "Its a long story."

Samuel held his arms out. "Well I got time. Its a Saturday. Aint got work to do today. Not on the Sabbath. You may as well tell it."

Lester crossed his arms. "This should be good." He said with sarcasm.

Jack looked at the man. "I'll make it quick for ya. Part of the reason that I'm here is to find a government agent. See my pa was forced to do their dirty work. He had to hunt down Bill Williamson and the others. They kidnapped me and my mother and held us while he did it. They sad they'd leave him alone but they didn't keep their word. They killed him in cold blood. Well one of those people he hunted was Javier but he's still alive."

Lester grabbed a newspaper. "Hold on. It says right here in the paper that Edgar brought all them to justice and it has John listed there too as one one the men he brought down."

Jack shook his head. "Nope. My pa killed all of them except Javier. He just hog tied him and they tried to put him in prison. Still the word is, he broke out and was seen around these parts."

Lester scoffed. "That explains a lot. They didn't go into detail about how your papa met his end. They described Ross as a hero. Come to turn out he aint done one bit of it? Funny the strings the federal government can pull. The lies they make look true."

Samuel nodded. "That pecker wood could't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun. How is he gonna take down John Marston? Let alone Dutch?"

Samuel and Lester had known most of Dutch's gang. They had all stayed in West Elizabeta before the robbery where John had been wounded. Before the federals had ever bothered Jack's parents. Still, back then, the gang ties, had been strong enough that to live in their own little haven among the rest of the gang.

However John had moved them out when Dutch had left them for dead. "He didn't beat him in a duel. He got his boys and out-gunned him, shot him in front of his home." Jack told them. "There was a lot of blood and he must have been shot over thirty times."

Joshua shook his head in disbelief. "I sure am sorry to hear that, son. Your father was a good man. The best of the worst."

"Our father did the same thing. Since he got left behind and arrested, the federals got him and made him an informant. He told them things that put some big people from the Bollards in jail but they did the same to him. Shot him and the stage coach driver. Those law men are no better than outlaws. Their badge is the only thing difference" Lester declared.

Samuel looked at Jack. "What do you want with Javier?"

Jack's head still felt like it was pounding. "I figure he may know where I can find Archer Fordham, the other agent behind my fathers death. Especially if Fordham and Ross took him in. If I explain to him what happened to my father, maybe he'll listen. It may be a long shot though."

"You know I was reading in the papers that they found Edgar Ross dead two years ago. Down at the Rio Del Toro river. Shot all up and down his chest." Joshua said.

"I knew before anybody else." Jack said tapping his holster with his Mauser pistol.

Samuel stepped up. "Javier Escuela? I know a girl who might know who that is! See five years ago I was in Mexico on the run from the law. We both were. Me and Lester. We helped Abraham Reyes take over the capital We joined their rebellion but low and behold now Reyes is a tyrant his damn self! Same as Sanchez, Aliende and De Santa! In fact this girl was closer to the top than you know. I can take you to her. She'll be at the saloon."

Joshua warned them, "Just don't get anything to drink. That's how this boy ended up out cold in the first place." They walked outside and Samuel said, "Take papa's horse. You can use it for now."

Jack mounted the horse and so did Lester and Samuel. "That was you that killed Ross? No shit?" Samuel asked him. Jack nodded. "Yep. He didn't seem even slightly sorry for what he done. If there's a hell I'm sure that bastard is in it."

Lester announced, "Blackwater is just up the road from here. We can't live in the same part of town as the folks there so we live outside of it." Jack looked back at the building they had just come from. It looked to be a motel of a sort. "So the government had your pa working for them too?"

Lester nodded. "Yes sir. He knew that being a Negro in America, you would never be given nothing so you have to take it. Look at what grandpa had to do. Fought for the Union against the Confederacy and served with the Buffalo soldiers but they still treat him like a dog and not a man. So he went robbing from white folks. Robbing banks and trains but it caught up with him and they gave him an ultimatum. Work for us or die."

"What's an ultimatum?" Jack asked. Samuel shrugged but Lester said, "Its a choice. They gave him a choice. Work for us or die. He worked for them he just wanted something better for his kids and he knew they needed their Dad so he chose life but they killed him anyway. He should have just fought them instead. He could have died like a man at least."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "It means a choice? Why didn't you just say that then?"

Samuel laughed. "Lester reads a lot. Frederick Douglass and W.E.B Du Bois to name a few."

Lester looked at his brother even as they rode. "You should read it too Sam. Read The Negro. That just came out this year. Or The Souls Of black Folk. Or even John Brown. If every white man was like John Brown there wouldn't be the kind of racial problem there is today Hell, even if just a quarter of them were it would be better."

Samuel laughed again. "That's my baby brother. Thinking books can bring change. The only thing white folks who hate us understand is a bullet. Aint no damn books gonna change his way of thinking."

"We have to liberate our minds, Sam. We can never go to war unless we remove the psychological chains on top of the steel chains." Jack cut it. "I think everybody should get a shot at trying to make something of themselves. If a man treats me right then I'm okay with him. If he steps on my toes, he's a dead man."

Lester let out a dry laugh. "Oh at some point somebody will always step on your toes. Just depends on the degree of how hard."

They arrived at the saloon. "Who is this girl? You say she knows Javier? I read my pa's journal and that he helped rebels in Mexico but he said that when he was with Reyes they were against Javier. They were the ones who helped him catch him."

Lester nodded as they hitched their horses. "Well a lot of people that use to stand with Abraham Reyes realize what a joke he is and that he's no different than any other scum politician. Javier was just a bounty hunter in those days he wasn't a revolutionary anymore like Dutch's boys so to speak. He worked for whoever paid up and that was the government at the time."

"Still." He said, "Abraham Reyes used people for his own gain and now people are realizing it. Javier knows he's a piece of shit. Its funny, I never saw your father is Mexico and we were both there. What part of town was he in?"

"Nuevo Paradiso." Jack told him, remembering the journal entry. "Oh shit. That was early on. No wonder I didn't see him.. Well as bad as the fighting may have been there, it got worse later when he took the capital."

They walked into the saloon. "We don't allow darkies in here. You need a whore I'll have one sent out to ya. We aint got no Nigra girls. This aint Blackwater so you'll have to settle for a Mexican broad. You sure as shit aint getting a white woman no matter how much money you got." He looked at Jack. "I told you to stay outta here you drunken buffoon! Boys, get these sorry sons of bitches outta here."

Samuel spoke up. "We're just looking for Miranda Fortuna. Is she here?"

A Mexican woman approached. "Si that is me. Who are you?" She was beautiful. She had dark hair and dark soulful eyes and almost flawless features. She looked too beautiful to be a working girl. One of the men playing poker at a table nearby said,

Jack asked her, "From Mexico?" She nodded. "Si. ¿Qué es su nombre? "

Jack tipped his hat off to her. "Jack Marston, miss. Pleasure to meet ya." He kissed her hand. "Marston? That name sounds so familiar. I do not know why."

"That's one of my best girls. You want her, you're gonna have to wait your turn."

Jack stepped forward. "We just want to speak with her. This will only take a minute! I just need to ask her something!" The bartender loaded his shotgun. "Uh huh. I'm sure that's all you'll be doing. That's what every cowboy from here to San Antonio comes here for. To 'talk ' to them." He pointed it at Jack. "Now you and your nigger friends beat it before I blast ya'll in half."

Lester put his hand on his holster. "You wanna try it you motherfucker?" He pulled the gun out and pointed it at him. One of the men looked at Miranda who's brown eyes were wide with alarm. The man pulled out a Revolver. "He aint getting a poke before me!"

He grabbed her from behind and pulled her keeping the gun to her temple. "Get out! Now!" The bartender screamed. Several other customers, possibly friends of the man with a gun to Miranda also pulled out guns. "Its time for you boys to leave."

Jack looked at that bartender. "You scared old man?"

The man said, "Not one more step boy. I mean it!"

Jack glared. "You did the easy part. You talked abut it. Now do it." The man's hands were shaking. Even though he had a shotgun on him. "Who do you think you are? You want to die?" Jack knocked one of the shot glasses to the floor in defiance and it shattered. "You want to try? I'm Jack Marston that's who I am."

Just then, he quick drew his weapon and fired two shots into the man's big gut. The bar thugs opened fire at them and Lester fired his Cattleman Revolver hitting one of them in the heart. Jack jumped behind the bar counter and took the shotgun from the fallen bartender. He looted his pockets and found six dollars. He handed the shotgun to Samuel who joined him behind the counter as the bar customers opened fire at them.

Samuel stood up and fired hitting one of the men who was firing wildly at Lester who had turned a tab over and taken cover behind it. Jack fired her Mauser again and hit a man three times in the stomach. The bar flies returned fire and shattered a bottle of Bourbon near Jack's face. The glass and booze hit him head on. Jack touched the side of his head and saw blood on his fingers from the wound.

e ducked back down but he moved to the side of the bar counter and blindly fired back. "Hold em off boys! Kill those sons of bitches!'m gonna teach this grease ball whore her place!"

Miranda screamed and drove her elbow into his groin. She spun around and punched him in the chin. The man grunted in pain. Another man who had fired and cut Jack helped grab her and the other man said, "Bitch!" and smacked her. "You uppity little slut. I'm gonna fuck you, then kill you and then fuck you some more." Said the man who had shot at Jack. Samuel cried out as a round grazed him. They looked to see other men firing from outside the bar.

"Jack, Sammy! We gotta help that poor lady!" Lester cried out. as he fired and wounded one of the men trying to come into the bar. He threw a bar stool at the front to throw the next man off guard. Samuel returned fire and blasted at a man through the bar window.

_So much for a peaceful life on a farm..._Jack thought dryly as he emptied his Mauser before reloading...

TBC...

* * *

_Okay that's all for this chapter folks! For those of you who don't get the reference to the strange man, he's a side mission. It is likely that he is either God or the Devil by Implication or possibly even Death. I have reasons to believe that any of the three could be true. Anyway I thought there should be a moment where Jack finds out more about what his dad did as well as John seeing the strange man before he is killed because the last time you see the Strange man, he stops by where John will one day be buried and says, "This is a fine spot" Its fucking eerie isn't it? My theory is he is death._

_Anyway I decided to do something following the story of Jack and I figured he should hunt down Agent Fordham too. He will also meet other people John knew later. As for Miranda Fortuna, she was the younger sister of Luisa, the Mexican revolutionary that Abraham took for granted. Later down the line Jack will venture into Mexico too. Anyway Miranda was that girl that John took to the border to escape Mexico so she would not be a sex slave of Aliende but ironically she is now working as a prostitute in Armadillo. Though she is, its not by choice she will later be a love interest for Jack. One spoiler! lol._

_Anyway she is shown in the mission My Sister's Keeper. As for this story, there will be a lot of OC's as well as canon characters. I feel the OC's are needed because I feel like blacks as well as Native Americans were not represented strongly in Red Dead Redemption. Anyway this is my 1s RDR story so go easy on me! Please R&R & I accept constructive critics but no flames!_

_OK, please R&R no flames. _


	2. Every Lawman A Crook & Sinner A Saint

_Native Gunz here, the original writer of this story. So it will probably take me less time to reboot this story and put it back in order than it will be to update the latest chapter from scratch. I will get on it once i have time and I see where I am at._

* * *

Jack ran to the back of the bar as Samuel and Lester covered him. He was hit twice in the side from a man with a gun but they were just graze wounds. Jack squeezed the trigger three times and hit the man in the head. Lester and Samuel held off some deputies as he did, keeping the deputies at bay in the front of the bar. Jack spotted the man who had a Revolver to Miranda's head. "You let the lady go, mister and you can walk outta here alive."

Jack aimed his Rolling Block at him and the guy kept the Revolver steady but he jerked the woman's hair back. "In the second it takes you to kill me I'll blow her brains all over ..." Jack had his face in his sites. He fired and he fired, cutting his words off, blowing the majority of his face away into a bloody fleshy mess.

Miranda backed up, her face covered in blood and gasped. Jack handed her his Cattleman Revolver that he rarely used and the ammo for it."¡Gracias señor! ¡Usted me guardó! I am very grateful to you." She hugged him.

"You know how to use one of these things?" He asked. She nodded. "Si, I came from Mexico during the height of the war. My brother Julio and hermana Luisa showed me how just in case Aliende would ever try and kidnap me."

Jack nodded. "That's good, because I reckon the law will be after us soon." They mounted their horses and began to take off. Jack and Miranda used the same horse, her riding on the back. Jack could hear horses riding after them as they rode out of Armadillo. "You sons of bitches! You'll hang from a tree!" Yelled one of the deputies as they fired at them. Jack unstrapped his Repeater and fired over his shoulder at them. He fired twice, one round hitting a horse, the next striking the lawman in the chest and knocking him from it.

Miranda fired her Revolver at them as well. Lester and Samuel picked off the deputies behind them that were closest to them. The lawmen fell from their horses as the two outlaws fired again and again, Samuel with the shotgun, Lester with a Henry Repeater he had taken off of one of the fallen bar thugs.

A round hit a lawman with a double barreled shotgun in the head blowing his brains out as he fell off the horse. His hat also came off, also stained with blood and brain matter. Miranda fired the Cattleman and hit a man twice in the gut. As this happened he fell over the side of the horse but not off of it still barely hanging on only to be dragged across the dirt roughly as the horse ran its own way.

There were about three more lawmen. Jack fired nine shots at them hitting one and killing another. Finally the four got away and managed to lay low, waiting until the coast was clear near the hanging rock. "You really done it this time, Marston. Now we'll probably be hanging from that tree right there because of this. For what? Just so you can avenge your papa? Well I still aint got the man that killed mine. Mybe none of this would have happened if your pa hadn't left mine for dead." Lester grumbled.

Jack took offense to that. "Look, my pa was abandoned too. He wasn't much on the details but he said Dutch and Bill left him there. He said he thought your pa had been shot down the road from him. Everybody said he was dead and that nobody ever saw him again. They thought that about my pa too but they found out that wasn't the case when he went after all three of them. He didn't know he was alive. If he had, maybe things would have been different."

Jack couldn't see anymore lawmen coming. "Mr. marston, did you ever have family come to Mexico? A man by that name saved my life. Helped me escape to the US before Aliende got ahold of me. I was supposed to work for a kind man who knew my family but he was murdered and I had to work there..." Miranda said.

Jack looked at her and said, "You knew my pa?"

She nodded. "Si. He was a good man. He saved me, kep the army back. I told him that I hoped to see him again, and he said that was unlikely. I told him that maybe I'd see him in another life. Is he still in Mexico?"

Jack sighed, he felt a dark mood coming on but he kept his cool. "My pa was looking for Javier Escuela. Him and another man, Bill. Actually my pa had to go after a lot of people but Javier is the only one who might still be alive. I need to talk to him. According to pa's journal, he was taken into custody by two federals. One of them is dead."

Miranda frowned. "I have been trying to get the money to get to Mexico, by stagecoach or Ferry. Even, by automobile if possible but it is not easy. My sister helped Abraham Reyes. I must go to see how she is doing. I haven't heard from her since De Santa was killed. I want to visit her. She was Abraham's lover. His partner in the fight for freedom." Lester got a look of what looked like pity for the young dark haired woman. She couldn't have been too much older than Jack. Maybe, they were the same age.

He started to say, "Look miss I hate to be the one to break this to you but Reyes is a crook. He became authoritarian too. He had his men shoot at a crowd of protesters."

Miranda shook her head in disbelief at that. "No...my sister would never fall for a man who would so such a thing. These things the newspapers have said about him and his revolution are lies Americans tell. I have to go there myself."

Lester started to reply but Samuel grabbed his shoulder and squeezed saying, "Let it be, Les."

Jack sat down on a rock and said with a sigh, "Well, do you know if Javier ever returned to Mexico?"

Miranda thought about it. "Well...I only know how to read a little bit. The man my family sent me to live with taught me to read and write in English and Espanol before he was..." She paused as a pained look of nostalgia came across her face.

"I read in a newspaper that there had been a break at the jail in Blackwater. Javier was thought to have escaped the country in an automobile. I remember that they had a very high bounty on his head. Muy Grande." She continued.

Jack put his chin in his hand, resting it and took off his hat briefly, letting the breeze hit his matted long hair. "Well I guess that's where I ought to be heading too. Talk to Javier. I used to know him. I have my own reasons. He can help me find the man that killed my father. Well, one of them anyway. The one that's still alive."

Miranda's big brown eyes flashed in sadness. "Lo Siento...it really must be in another life...I didn't realize. Well Javier had been working for the government originally but Abraham turned him over to your father. That was what I was told in the last letter Luisa my sister sent to me just after they took El Presido."

Jack took a moment to take that in. "Looks like we're going to the same place then. We may as well stick together since we are. It aint safe for a gal like you to go out there alone."

Miranda disagreed. "I can take care of myself Mr. Marston. I am from a war torn country! You under estimate me. Do not let my being a woman fool you."

Lester cut in, "Actually he's right miss. Since there still is a Civil War going on in Mexico, we can't even go there right now. I think all the stage coaches are staying away from there. Nobody with an automobile will go near it. The only way is to get a ferry ride but I don't know anybody that crazy. The fedeal government aint letting any Americans over the border. Now that Reyes is in power they want him to stay that way."

Miranda asked, "Why would there still be a war, even now? Have we not won the revolution? Those rebels that are against Abraham now must be Loyalists who supported Aliende and Sanchez."

Lester didn't agree with her. "No ma'am. These were workers, miners, railroad men, hell, even Chinese day laborers Reyes talked a good game when Inoddeed was with him but he just went down the same road he was fighting against."

Miranda didn't budge. "He would never open fire on protesters."

Jack thought about it. "What about the outlaws? There has to be some kind of gangs in the area. People that aint loyal to the government or the law? All this time I resented my pa for being an outlaw but now I know the law was as crooked as the day is long."

Samuel had a look of concern in his eyes sweat pouring down his dark skin under the hot sun. "Jack you best be careful. If it really was you who shot Edgar Ross, then the law will be hunting for you too."

Jack nodded but said nothing. What could he say? _Damn...now I'm going the same route pa went. But he did it for years. I avenged my father, and by God, I ought to have the right to even if the murderer was a government agent! All my pa tried to do was for nothing...sometimes we need to fight..._Jack thought to himself.

Lester had a look of frustration in his eyes. "The gangs aint any better than the law. A lot of them are doing the dirty work of the federal government. They use them to kill the gangs that won't help the government. The government is like a gang in their own way. That said, we're part of a gang that is fighting back. Against the law and their hired killers. You want across the border, its gonna take some time."

Jack looked at his old friend and said, "Well what would it take? I can put the guns down once I finish off Agent Fordham. I have to do this, everything my father fought for, everything he did, they just used him. They had him chase down outlaws only to shoot him on his own farm."

Lester looked like he didn't want to say what he was about to say but he did. "Jack, they'll never let an outlaw alone. The only way you could ever live happily is if you took them down. That's pretty much it. This aint Mexico though. Our government is a lot stronger and far more crooked."

Jack looked at him with a bit of impatience. "So where are they?"

Lester nodded saying, "Its what's left of the Bollard Twins Gang. Its ironic that my papa helped bring down a lot of people in it but once he got murdered I ended up trying to help keep it going. " Lester took a drink from the canteen and passed it to Jack who did the same.

"So now we rob banks. All the outcasts in this country have a home with the Bollard. Negroes, Mexicans, Orientals, Jews, poor folks, and foreigners and disgruntled workers alike. We try to be the same way Dutch Van Der Linde used to be but we aren't betraying one another. Dutch was wrong...I guess I shouldn't be surprised he abandoned your father..."

Jack passed the water to Miranda. "Yeah...I miss the old guy. I mean I get mad at him sometimes thinking he left me with his problems but I know he was trying to give me a better life. It still didn't work. What was I supposed to do? Just let some government bastard kill him?"

Samuel took the canteen when she handed it to him. "We can't choose the cards we're dealt. What about your mama? How's she taking it?"

Jack sighed as a feeling of grief washed over him but he swallowed and said, "She took sick. She died of tuberculosis last year. I guess I should have expected it as much as she used to cough so held on as long as she could. I guess she meant to keep me from becoming like them."

Miranda put a hand on his arm saying, "Lo siento I am sad to hear that. My father was killed too. Luisa wrote me about it and my mama told me for sure. The Army killed him. I know your pain. Your father was a good man. He saved my life."

Jack looked at the ground but asked, "What now? Where do we go from here?"

Lester answered, "There's this man named Seth Briars...strange fella. He spent years robbing graves and looking for a treasure, going through pockets of dead bodies but low and behold he went and found his piece of the pie in the Tall Trees area. He's a rich man now and he owns a Hotel in Blackwater. Anyway he's a good enough man...well anyhow, I read about the assault on Fort Mercer and I saved the papers."

He took another swig from the canteen and continued. "He was there. He was the distraction. Anyway he may know your father since he did help bring down Bill and Dutch and all them. I'm sure they may have crossed paths. We'll get in touch with him. He can give us a place to stay. We'll need to lay low. I'm sure there's a bounty on all our heads."

Jack nodded. "I guess so. After that, can we head to Mexico?"

Samuel lit a cigarette. "Didn't you hear? The civil war in Mexico is still on, just with different people this time but its still the same war nonetheless. It'll take some time but we're gonna find a way. If anybody can help us, its Seth now that he's finally sane again."

Jack held his pistol but he said, "All right. I suppose so. Miranda can see her sister and I can find Javier Escuela and see if he knows where Archer Fordham is. I just hope he won't be sour seeing as it was my pa that helped catch him."

Jack put the gun back in the holster. "My pa said that the days of outlaws and cowboys is coming to an end. Maybe that's true but I sure as hell fear for everybody if government dogs like Ross & Fordham is what America has in its future."

_Meanwhile Near Lake Don Julio..._

Archer Fordham handed Phillip Ross a Winchester Repeater. There were several men with him, all dressed in black suits similar to his. "Mr. Ross don't you worry. We'll find the son of a bitch who killed your brother. He was a good man. Like a father to me. Taught me everything I know."

Phillip shook his head but said, "Hell, if I had known what that boy truly intended to do I'd have never told him! I'd have shot him dead myself. Clever little scalawag. Posing as an agent..."

Archer patted the elder man on the back. "You had no way you could have known. He was John Marston's son. Like they say, Phil, the apple never falls far from the tree."

Just then an agent came running out of breath as he got off his horse. "Archer...Archer...I gotta...tell you something..."

Archer looked at the man and said, "Just catch your breath, Luke. What is it?"

The man panted but said, "Its Marston's son. Just got a call from the boys over in Armadillo. He and two colored fellas shot up the saloon and made off with a whore. Killed the bartender too."

Archer readied his own Henry Repeater and said, "Mr. Ross, boys, that's our cue. Let's go find that son of a whore."

* * *

_That is all, people. R&R! Plus remember Phillip is Edgar Ross the antagonist's brother and Miranda was in My Sisters Keeper since Luisa died i figured she could be the next central strong female character. Later on i will touch up on what good ol Abraham has been up he went from being a freedom fighter to a tyrannical presidents. Something he has in common with all US presidents other than the freedom fighter part. Don't get me started on what a hypocrite George Washington was I could go on all day._

_As for the line where Miranda said "It really must be in another life"that is taken from when she had asked John Marston if she would ever see him again and he said probably not since he did not plan to stay in Mexico long so she said, "In another life then" _

_I put Phillip Ross in here too and while I know you can kill him while looking for Edgar it results in karma loss no biggie but I wanted to have it be that Jack did not do that so that way it adds to the story now he not only has Edgar's partner after him but his brother too. You know how those gill billy types are. If they determine they have a "Blood feud" they will hunt you until you are dead or they are. Though Edgar acted like mister civilized white man and all sophisticated and educated and referred to John as the brooding cowboy, he ended up having a brother who was little more than a damn hick himself!  
_

_I guess underneath every so called civilized gentleman there is a redneck. That would explain his attitude toward Nastas despite him basically putting his own ass on the line by being an informant for the government. While it is sad he died, he did get what he deserved as far as being a traitor to his people. _

_OK, so that's all. I crave feedback. _


	3. Barter Of Words And Bullets

_Hey people! So chapter three and still no reviews but I'm still writing this regardless. So now Jack is on his way to go and meet Seth. I hope somebody will take a look and review I saw some ppl subscribed to it. Stop hiding & review! lol._

_Amyway so here goes. I'm just making this up as I go. So here goes!_

* * *

_Chapter 3_

Jack and Lester set out for Gaptooth Ridge early in the morning. It was just at the crack of dawn. "Where we going?" Jack asked.

"The Bollard Twins may have been weakened by the federal government but there's still some old cowboys left. Its funny how a common enemy drives people together." Lester said. Jack looked back even as he rode off through the crisp morning air. "You sure Miranda will be okay?"

Lester nodded. "Yeah! Samuel may be simple sometimes but he's a good shot and he hates anybody that raises their hand to a woman."

Jack grinned. "I can respect that."

He spurred the horse to keep up with Lester. "Its ironic aint it? The same gang my papa wiped out, I'm in! They're like family to me!" Lester proclaimed. Jack thought to himself _Oh so NOW you're feeling talkative..._ but he said, "It aint the strangest thing in the world. I was like that with my pa's buddies."

Lester turned to Jack asking, "Why, did you kill them too?"

Jack shook his head. "You know I didn't Les. For a long time I thought pa was just not gonna tell me and ma what had happened. I thought whatever he did with them government boys, he'd take to the grave with him and when they shot him I thought he did! Still, I guess him and ma finally got to spend some quality time together during the peaceful days when we were just trying to take care of the farm. He confided in her late at night when me, Uncle and Rufus would sleep. Over the time, he told her what all happened."

They were nearly to Hennigan's Stead. "Yeah? So what was that old fool Dutch like in his last days? He tell your mama anything about that?" Jack thought for a moment on that. "Yeah. Pa said he was pretty much the same as when he saw him at the robbery. He was a crazy bastard. No value for human life."

Lester took the lead and they began to approach a camp that was about fifty yards away. "Well the last I heard, he was robbing banks in Blackwater with some Indians from the reservations. Some of them came from the Bearclaw Camp and Cochinay. They're mighty pissed about what the government did to them, running them off their land like that."

Samuel shook his head. "I saw what they did to some of them people in Blackwater. Or I read about it in the paper. What words I didn't understand, Les, helped me with. Them Indians killed some town folk that had nothing to do with the government. Twas wrong what they did. They wanna rob a bank, that's fine but why kill people doing it? They weren't government boys."

Lester rolled his eyes. "Are you really surprised they went too far when they had Dutch leading them? Damn you dumb, Sammy! He was probably the first one out of all them to shoot a person in cold blood like that. They wanted revenge for what the government done to them a lot of them were the sons of warriors who had died but never fought themselves. Just got Christianized. They wanted to fight like their fathers did but they didn't know how to channel it. Dutch wasn't a hero but he presented himself like enough of one that people followed him."

Jack checked behind them to make sure the law wasn't after them. "I don't know what happened but my pa was supposed to have killed him. I thought he did up until I was headed for the out house one night after we went hunting and I overheard pa telling my mother about it. He said Dutch killed himself and that Edgar Ross shot him with his own gun so that it would like like he did it. He didn't seem to talk much about how he got through it and how he found Dutch. Almost like he felt bad about."

They made it to the camp ground. A Caucasian man waited there, cleaning his Rifle while sitting with a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass. He stood up as Jack and Lester approached. "Howdy folks! Lester, how you doing, son?"

Jack kept his distance as Lester and the man had a brief conversation which Jack could not make out.

"Who's this friend of yours?"

Jack got off the horse. "Hello mister. I'm Jack Marston."

They shook hands. "I'm Conner Hughes. Nice to meet you."

Lester pointed out, "Conner is a veteran of the Bollard Twin Gang. He was old buddies with Ike and Willie Bollard. If it weren't for him, they would have just rustled cattle all the time. He upgraded them to bank and train heists."

Conner recognized Jack's last name. "Marston? Are you related to a John Marston?"

Jack was feeling like he may need to grab his gun if the guy was an enemy to his father. He never knew. He had gotten used to the fact that his father was a well known outlaw but he didn't always know whose bad side John had gotten on. "Why do you ask, friend?"

Conner told him, "There was an old outlaw by that name. Died a few years back. He was a killer working for the government. He was one of the biggest in these parts and then he went to working with Blackwater agents and even law dogs around New Austin. He captured a couple of the fellas in the gang. He even killed one. All for a damn bounty."

Lester eyed Jack saying, "If you want folks to help you, you gotta be honest with them."

Jack nodded. "He was my father. He did a lot of that kind of work with the government. See me and my ma were captured and well, they were holding us hostage so that he'd hunt Bill Williamson and Dutch Van Der Linde. Well he did all that hey asked but they still didn't keep their word. They just used him for their own use and then threw him away when they were done with him."

Conner looked at the young man and he lit a cigarette. "You know, that's a mighty bad thing to happen. Dutch may have been on brutal son of a bitch but in the end killing him didn't do no good did it? Well, your father did a lot of damage to people like us. Maybe with your help, we can try and finish what Dutch started?"

Jack looked at him in suspicion. "What do you mean? Help you out how, Conner?"

The man blew smoke. "Dutch was helping a lot of Natives fight back. While it was cowardly of them to shoot women, I do agree that they got every right to be angry at the government. They made a lot of treaties with those people but they aint honored a single one. The law around here is still trying to make sure they stay in their mission schools and be good little Christians. Not to mention all the gangs are being wiped out now that the federals have howitzers. Used to be just he army that had them."

Jack was a bit confused. "So are you a revolutionary of some kind?"

Conner took another puff. "Yeah. Something like that. Course the federals would have you believe we're just an outlaw gang, terrors. Hell even some average joes around here would say that we aint hardly either one. Just relics of the old west. Outdated men with outdated guns."

Jack hated to but he agreed. "Well, sir the old West is coming to an end. Pretty soon everything will be industrialized. Its looking more and more like that every day. It seems like a lost cause to fight the government don't it?"

Conner shook his head with contempt. "No sir. The United States government wiped out the Native populations for years. The total genocide on them has been going on before the US was even a country. Its been going on...oh...say about four hundred and twenty three years now. Ever since Ol Chris arrived in Cuba. Anyway, those of us who are just like the Indians, who fight to preserve our way of life and to pursue equality our own way, they may kill us, you can be sure but they can't kill the fight. The fight will carry on. This same exact fight will go on and on for years till its us who wins."

He blew smoke again and said, "That will happen even if the West becomes industrialized. It don't matter. As long as there are people being wronged there will be those willing to fight and die for freedom. Course, not everybody that says they do that actually does. Abraham Reyes aint no hero. He became just as corrupt as the people he overthrew."

Jack shrugged. "I've heard that for a while now but with all due respect mister, I like to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. I can't say that I believe he's corrupt because I aint met the man."

The man put the smoke out. "I suppose so...hell you want to go to Mexico don't ya? Aint gonna be easy. The federals are trying to stop any renegades from escaping and they're trying to defeat any Indians fighting back in the area. not to mention, the civil war itself. See, it still on over there. A lot of Americans went and joined up with them, outlaws and fellas like that. The war aint stopped. People have been trying to overthrow Reyes ever since he ordered those protesters shot. Then again, maybe it was never really over. Not even for a moment."

He stood up. "Jack, I know you want to get to Mexico so you can find out about your pa and all but it will cost ya. Especially since the border's closed off due to the war. I guess American renegades have been taking both sides in the civil war there even after Aliende and Sanchez were killed. I guess Reyes is trying to improve border relations and I think its because so many Americans sided with the rebels."

Jack sighed. "All right so what can I do for ya?"

"There's an old farm a ways from here that keeps being attacked by bandits. See, we're trying to do good by the good folks of New Austin but a lot of outlaws are just out for themselves. There's these folks up at the Critchley Ranch that have been terrorized by the damn Williamson gang for years! When it aint them its the Banditos. Anyway they managed to hold their own but see stubborn farmers pisses cowards like that off so I need you to go and see if they're all right. You do that, you prove yourself and I'll help you."

Jack nodded. "All righty mister. You got yourself a deal."

Jack got onto his horse and began to ride out toward the place. Lester followed close behind. As they rode Lester asked, "So let me ask you something Marston. What do you think of this war? The war to end all wars as they call it?"

Jack shrugged. "Hell I don't know. The Brits and the Germans are fighting for God knows what. All over some damn kid getting shot. I reckon England is our friend even though we kicked their asses in the revolution but then again, it aint none of my business."

Lester told him, "Yeah that's what they would lead you to believe but it aint true. In reality they're just fighting over who gets control over what colonies. Its all about who get s to exploit Asia and Africa."

Jack thought about it. "Well I heard that there are Nigerians helping the British fight the Germans in Cameroon, or that they will be, I can't figure it aint as noble as the Revolutionary War and the Civil War."

Lester looked at him like he was speaking Chinese. "They weren't noble either! The civil war only put an end to slavery because of the industrial economy! It wasn't that they cared about our freedom. Hell, we may not have been slaves but we sure weren't free. As for the Revolution that was a bunch of baloney too. The constitution? Nothing but a lie."

Jack asked, "What makes you say that?"

Lester told him. "Simple. We the people. That's false right there. We the people was white man who owned land it didn't apply to the colored, it didn't apply to the Indians, and it sure as hell didn't apply to women. All it was, is another England. Maybe even a worse England. They didn't want to pay taxes because they wanted to be the tax collectors! Low & behold blacks & Natives fought in their revolution too but we aint got a piece of the pie to this day."

Jack held a hand up. "Easy friend. I didn't mean nothing by it. For what its worth if I was alive back then I would have told them to shove their false freedom up their asses and I wouldn't pay them a dollar of Confederate money! I didn't know Les, I just went by what the history books say."

Lester explained as they rode toward the sunrise. "Me too but I know that history is very one sided especially in this country. I had to take it upon myself to read books they'd never teach in school. That's admirable about you telling them to stick it where the sun don't shine but honestly you wouldn't have had rights yourself. You maybe white and you may have land but you sure as hell aint rich. I know enough about your pappy to know that much. So you wouldn't have been much better off."

Jack kept riding on and they were nearly there. "So these are Bill Williamson stragglers who are attacking folks? That aint right."

Lester agreed. "Its a god damn disgrace but they do. I tell you, Jack, I heard some horror stories these last few years about Bill Williamson. I couldn't even begin to explain it to ya."

Jack nodded already knowing where this was going. "My pa never did talk much about it. He didn't seem to have much to say after he got Bill and Dutch and Javier but I've heard that Bill lost his way from more than a few people."

Lester grimly sad, "Its an understatement to say he 'lost his way' the man went and got him and his boys and went and killed some innocent folks up at Ridgewood. Killed the men, raped the women, some were left alive, but some were just killed after they finished with em. Marshal Leigh Johnson of Armadillo went after them and he was the one who assaulted Fort Mercer. Those farmers weren't rich and they sure weren't hurting nobody. Bill got a bullet in his keester just like Aliende did and they both deserved it."

Jack was shocked. "Now I didn't hear nothing about that. I guess there was a reason for pa to keep me in the dark. At once time I admired Bill. We both did."

He arrived at the Ranch. Things were quiet. Too quiet. There were several horses hitched in front. Jack dismounted from his horse. He unholstered his pistol but he had it hidden in the jacket he wore. He knocked on the door to the Critchley Residence. A man answered the door, a tall clean shaven man with a scar on his face answered the door. "Yeah? What do you boys want?"

Jack said, "We're looking for Mr. Critchley. Do you know where he is?"

Lester whispered to him, "Ask for Melvin Critchley."

Jack looked the man in the eye. "I'm looking for Melvin Critchley."

The man paused and then said, "Well I'm an old friend. He's entertaining guests at the moment."

With that, Lester aimed his Rifle and the man reached for his own gun but Lester fired a shot and hit him in the chest, the bullet pierced his lung. Jack turned to Lester demanding, "What the hell did you do that for?"

Lester informed him, "The man's a liar something's not right. There aint no Melvin Critchley. Edgar Critchley is the man of the house. I tricked him and if he were friends he'd know better."

They heard cursing from inside the house. Somebody opened fire at them from inside the house shattering the window. A shot hit Lester in the arm. He fell to the ground off the porch. Jack kicked the door open. He fired and hit a man with a Revolver who was firing. He hit the man twice in the side. The man collapsed and his gun discharged once more as he hit the floor clutching his wounds. Jack finished him with a round to the head. "Lester you all right?" He shouted.

Lester got to his feet clutching the bloody wound but he still held onto his Henry Repeater. He fired through the broken window and hit a gang member with a sawed off shotgun. He hit the guy in the chest. The man stumbled over the sofa and he fell and Lester fired again putting another round into the small of his back. Jack found a man laying on the floor hog tied. Jack removed his knife and cut the man loose. "You okay mister?"

He helped the man to his feet. "Thank you son, them crazy rascals beat and hot tied me. Then one of them took my wife to the bedroom! My god, you gotta help her!"

Jack heard a scream and he barged into a bedroom to the end of a hall. In the room, a man was pinning down a naked, helpless woman who despite her efforts to fight back, did so with no success as he had tied her wrists down. "Damn it, whore you aint leaving till I'm through! Your husband can't get up or get it up now!" As Jack approached the door suddenly a shot rang out and the door splintered. The man in the bed had fired a double barrelled shotgun through the door, briefly being distracted by Marston.

The woman spotted Jack and threw the blanket over the man attempting to rape her. The man's next shot hit the ceiling as he had been distracted. Jack fired his Repeater four times and hit the man in the back. The man slumped off the bed to the floor in the bloody bed covering. Jack cut the woman free and stepped out of the room saying, "Get dressed miss, I'm here to help. Wait till its clear!"

Lester spat on the dead body. "Rapist son of a bitch. You believe that? What kind of low life would even try to do that to a woman?"

Jack dryly said, "At least he took her to an actual bed to do it. I reckon he must be a romantic!" Lester's face looked horrified at what he said and Jack said, "It was a joke, Lester. I know he's scum. I was being sarcastic anyhow. He aint a rapist anymore, friend. He's just dead. That's all."

Jack bolted for the front room and two cowboys outside fired at him. He was hit by a round in the side and another in the leg. Jack fell on the floor face first. He quickly got up, trying to ignore the pain as he bled. He took cover on the wall next to the window. Toward the back of the ranch he could see Edgar firing his Cattleman revolver alongside Lester killing three cowboys who were in the kitchen. From what Jack saw, Lester had been hit again with another shot this time grazing him in the elbow. Jack fired at the man who had shot him through the window but the man retreated before the shot could got him.

Jack fired at the cowboy again and missed but he managed to get the other cowboy outside in the knee caps, blowing it out as he fired the Evans Repeater. The man howled in agony as he did. Jack got to him outside and fired three more shots two of which hit the guy in the stomach. The man fell a wounded gimp on the lawn howling, "Noooooo!" Until the third round hit him near the eye brow.

Meanwhile Lester, fired his Henry at the one man who was still alive in the kitchen but the guy would spring up just long enough for he and Edgar to fire at him and then miss as he went back to cover. The man came out and fired his shotgun. He ducked and and the shot hit a picture frame leaving a buck shot in the wall. Lester fired and hit the man in the gut and he pulled the trigger again but his gun clicked empty. The man pulled the trigger but his was also empty. Lester tackled the man and they wrestled for control of the shotgun. Lester punched him in the face and drove his knee into his gut.

The man hit Lester in the chest with his empty weapon. Lester fell back and he hit him again this time in his wounded arm. Lester cried out in pain and it felt as though he would never use that arm again in his life. He kicked the man's legs out from under him and the man dropped the shotgun. Lester tackled him and punched him in the face but then the man kicked him off and withdrew a pocket knife. He leapt upon Jack and attempted to bring the blade down on him. Jack spotted this and started to head back inside but he was shot again by the same old cowboy. He staggered but he fired back and hit the man in the thigh who was on the other side of the porch.

The man held his leg wound and slipped and Jack fired a shot into his waist. He got up close and personal and fired at point blank range. He shot the top part of the man's skull off. The man on Lester started to bring the knife down using Lester's wounds to his advantage pinning his arm down with his knee. The blade was getting closer and closer to Lester's chest.**BOOM!**

The man flew off Lester and hit the wall and slid down it on his own blood his stomach had been blown wide open. Jack saw that the woman upstairs who he assumed was Mrs. Critchley, had taken the weapon from a dead cowboy and had shot the cowboy. She held the smoking shotgun and Jack rushed to help his childhood friend to his feet. Edgar thanked them saying, "Thank you boys! You saved my bacon! I wouldn't have gave a damn about my own hide but I was afraid I lost my wife for a moment."

Jack nodded. "You almost did."

Jack looked at the bruised and bloody married couple and asked, "Are you folks all right?"

Mrs Critchley nodded. "Thanks to you, boys go on now. We'll take care of these low lives." Jack raided the pockets of all the dead men before they mounted up back on the horses. He found a total of $19 on all of them. They began to ride back to Hennigan's Stead.

They were silent along the way. Lester used some medicine on his wounds and so did Jack. When they arrived Conner was there waiting. "So? What happened? Are you two okay? How are the Critchley's?"

Jack told him, "They were beaten up and a bit scared but we helped them. They should be fine. For now. So I did you your favor now what can you tell me about the government and Archer Fordham?"

Conner sighed. "You're right boy. You earned a little bit of information. Well one thing I can tell you is, it wasn't Archer who murdered your pa. Hell he wasn't even there. Just Edgar and some of his agents did. I'm sure you'll be able to get hold of some of the men from the execution squad. Ross was the only one who did between the two of em though but everybody knows you gunned down Ross at the river. So he may not have killed your father but Fordham is after you. He wants to bring you to justice. He even has Ross's brother with him."

* * *

_Okay people this is all for this chapter I decided to finish it up today on this chapter sorry if it still isn't as long. Anyway, I had to change up Jack's perception of his fathers murder a little bit because I always wondered what if he went after Archer too? But then I realized Archer wasn't even there in the mission the last enemy that shall be destroyed so that threw my idea out the window but there is still Edgar Ross's next of kin plus Archer would be going after the man who murdered him so there is a plot in itself. Anyway hope you enjoy it! I don't own any Rock Star characters just the OC's. Please R&R no flames!_


	4. Like Father Like Son

_Hey ya'll here goes another chapter! I don't get any reviews yet but I wish you guys would leave feedback! Regardless here goes the next chapter of Red Dead Retribution . As far as Seth goes he really did deny any involvement in his grave robberies you can read about it in the Blackwater Ledger in 1914 when he talks about that. Also Herbert Moon is a very bigoted shop owner in both Red Dead Redemtion and in Undead Nightmare and in the latter John left him to get eaten by zombies but sine Undead Nightmare is supposed to just be a nightmare John had as it is implied and it contradicts the RDR story line while over lapping into it, I figure Herbert needed to die again by saying something to the wrong guy, specially somebody of the ethnicity he seemed to bash the most. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 4

Jack rode off to to meet Seth in Blackwater. As Jack arrived there via the Great Plains he got to the place where Seth would be. Jack had been told that Seth had known his father. Jack arrived finally at the supply store that Seth owned. He hitched his horse and walked inside. From what Jack had read about the man, as Miranda had been kind enough to give him all the newspapers from that year, Seth Bryer was a person of interest for law enforcement for digging up graves, believed to be in search of some sort of treasure. The man had lost his wife, his family and his business due to the pursuit of this lost treasure. Now suddenly, according to Conner, he had his business back in Blackwater. He walked up to the counter and a man with false teeth grinned saying, "Howdy mister! What can I do ya for?" Jack eyed the man and said, "I'm looking for a man named Seth. You seen him?"

The shopkeeper cackled. "You're looking at him! Say...do I know you? You look a bit familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it." Jack told him, "I'm Jack Marston... I'm trying to get to Mexico. Conner Hughes said you might be able to help."

Seth nodded. "Indeed I might, mister! Course its gonna take a lot of time to get the money to get you there. You can't go by automobile, all the roads down there aint paved yet. You can't go by horse cause the Army would just shoot ya. No sir, we're gonna need a plan if we're to go down there! We'll need us a stage coach. But...how do I know I can trust you?" Jack sighed. "Hughes said you knew my father...John Marston?"

Seth took one close look at him and whooped practically jumping in the air. "Why I knew I recognized you from somewheres! Well, hell I knew your pa. He was a grouchy bastard, wasn't he?" Jack shrugged. "I guess he is when people bring that out in him." Seth told him, "Well whatever happened to the man? Aint seen him since we assaulted Fort Mercer!"

Jack sighed. "He had a reason for that. I think he was sent to hunt a few men, some people he used to ride with in a gang. The government held me and my mother hostage so that he would. I know he wouldn't have wanted to otherwise! I'm sure you've heard of them, right? Bill Williamson and Dutch Van Der Linde?" Seth came from around the counter. "Course I know em mister! They was one of the biggest outlaws in the state at the time. I knew Bill myself. He hired me when he had jobs that needed doing that others would't."

Jack asked, "That right? What kind of jobs?" Seth got defensive, "Hey mister I'm not on trial here! If you have anything else I can help you with, you just let me know!" Jack told him, "I just told you what I needed." He looked at him and said, "Right...right partner...well I have a friend and a business partner, who owns himself a nice little spot out there in Armadillo. I got some goods he'll be needing for a trip to Thieves Landing. Every now and then, he and I trade supplies. He used to just sell his merchandise out of his stage coach but now he finally went and got himself a shop."

Jack shrugged. "Okay. What can I do ya for?" Seth said, "Oh, not much partner! I just need a man to ride shotgun with me. See to it that we arrive safely in Armadillo. I got all kinds of goods I need to bring over to there to Armadillo."

Jack nodded and readied his Evans Repeater. "Let's go. You need a wing man, you got him." Seth nodded and they got onto the wagon and said, "Much obliged, partner! You still got bandits out here who would be after a wagon like this. Any way they can line their pockets."

They began to ride had the Repeater in his lap and said, "Well what would be the point in robbing you? You just run a business don't ya? Aint like you're a rich man or anything right?" Seth cackled at those words. "But I am rich, mister! I found me a treasure up in Tall Trees and I've been living large ever since!" Jack snickered recalling a few newspapers and even some of the old editions he had read. "Aint you that crazy sum bitch that was digging up graves all over New Austin? I heard about you."

Seth snapped, "I have no idea what you're talking about mister! That's a lie! A dirty lie!" Jack grinned. "You sure about that? The papers say they caught an old friend of yours, some man named Moses Forth ring a bell?" Seth steered the wagon out through the Great Plains. "Sure! We used to be old friends! He was always trying to dig up graves but that was his thing, not mine! He was a truly disturbed man, that Moses was..."

Jack wanted some clarification. "What exactly was your business with my father, Seth? I mean, you said you assaulted Fort Mercer but how well did you get to know him? My father freed me from being a hostage but I guess I just want to understand the man better, how he was with the people he was around while he was out fighting for me and my mother."

Seth told him, "I understand! Damn shame what happened! Read it in the Blackwater Ledger how the government and possibly even some army boys went there and killed him in his own home! Out in Beechers Hope."

Jack nodded. "Yes sir. That's true. I was there.I never shot a man until that day. I'll never forget that day. It was funny too I woke up thinking everything would be all right." Just then, three shots rang out. Jack looked and saw that a man on a horse with a black bandanna on his face was chasing them. He had slicked back blonde hair and a cowboy hat and wore what looked like a Duster coat. He carried a Cattleman Revolver. There were two other horses as well coming after them. Another man carried a double barreled shotgun and one other man had a Springfield.

Jack aimed at them firing his Evans. He hit the man with the Revolver and saw his coat turn red with blood as he got him in the stomach. The man fell off his horse but tried to hang on but ended up being dragged on the side. "Bandits! I told ya! They know who I am, partner!" Seth shouted. Jack fired three shots and hit one of the men, the one with the shotgun ad the man's shotgun discharged as he was hit. He fell and hit the ground being trampled by his own horse. Jack was grazed by a shot in the arm as the man with the Springfield fired on him. Jack fired back hitting the man in the shoulder. He hit him two more times but the man seemed insistent on chasing them despite the blood he was losing. The man fired again and a shot nearly hit Seth in the face. Jack fired again and got him right in the heart.

The man fell off bouncing off the ground and rolled. They could see more horse back criminals coming their way. Jack observed as thy rode through, that a couple in an automobile had pulled over and was watching what had happened. They didn't have paved roads through the West in too many places like they did in Blackwater so they usually drove on the dirt roads but they soon would be as the Old West was dying. An entire way of life wouldn't even be there soon. As he drew a bead on the armed criminals, he realized that eve these men who hoped to kill Seth Bryars and take his supplies were a part of this way of life. They certainly represented it. All though many people drove automobiles now, they were never going to have the money to get them. They still rode on horses. He saw one of them getting in close enough range to start to fire but he already let off four shots. The shots hit a man in the hip bone and in the stomach.

Another two shots hit the horse and killed it. They began firing as well using one hand to fire their Revolvers. The shots rocked the wagon. Seth was hit by one of the bullets in the arm and shouted, "Them sons of bitches got me, Marston! Kill em!" Jack fired again and hit the guy in the face tearing a hole in his cheek bone. He fired three more and hit a bandit with a sawed off shotgun. He hit the man twice in the right side of his chest and the third shot got him in the head, blowing his hat off and he could see both brain matter and blood on the grass as he fell from his horse. Jack was hit in the lower arm by another bullet from a pistol and he shrieked, "Ahhhh! Son of a bitch! What the hell did you do to piss these folks off, Seth?"

Seth answered, "Hell if I know, mister! All I can think of is that they want my money! They'd be better off trying to get me in my house to tell ya the truth! A man like me discovering treasure is just too much for these swindlers being able to take so they want to kill me!"

Jack told him, "What happened to your business if you were out there looking for some treasure? This was what, four, five years ago? The gold rush is over, friend! You should read a newspaper!" Seth laughed hysterically saying, "The newspapers just talk about Moses and his grave digging and then trying to say I was involved with him!" They were now pulling in through Thieves Landing. They still had bandits hot on their trail. "Where ya off to Seth? You toothless yella bellied son of a whore!" Jack fired several more shots and took out two of them, one was killed and trampled under foot while the other rolled off the road and into the water.

Jack reloaded his Repeater and Seth hollered, "I gotta say mister, this is just like old times with your pa! He was just as good with the Rifle. Hell, we killed Miners, Bandits, treasure hunters, a whole load of scum! Its funny how I never really found it when I was with him. I expected I would with a crazy gunmen like him! You know what they say, like father like son!" Just then a Dynamite stick hit the side of the wagon and bounced hitting the front of them and exploded. The blast killed two of the horses but there were still the two rear horses in the back.

They unstrapped the dead ones as fast as they could and kept going. Jack spotted the man who had thrown the stick from one of the porches of one of the businesses and was now lighting another one up and running after them. Jack fired a shot and missed but he fired again and hit the man in the leg in his right shin and the guy cried out in agony but this was silenced as the dynamite stick went off in his hand and his left arm and right leg was blown off.

"Yeah well these fellas seem to think the wrong man found it! I guess they feel cheated out of their share of the treasure!" Jack remarked. Seth replied, "Well I can't exactly control how the scalawags around here deal with men who find their fortune! If they think they're getting even one penny from me, they got another thing coming!" Jack spotted another two outlaws coming by horse back after them even as they rode up through Hennigan's Stead. Jack fired and hit a man wearing a pair of black overalls and a red shirt underneath. He hit the man in the collar bone area. The man fired his Cattleman revolver and two shots hit the side of the coach and another grazed Jack in the neck. Jack was bleeding but it was only a minor wound.

He fired again and hit the man in the stomach but the bullet went into his left lung. If the man wasn't dead from that and was merely near death, the fall off his horse surely finished him. Jack aimed again and just squeezed off shots until the Rifle clicked empty. This was reckless but he had hit the guy and that was what mattered but he also got his horse. Jack saw both the horse and the man fall to the ground. Jack felt relief as the criminals seemed to stop coming. "That was a close one, partner! Those bastards were crazy!" Jack looked at the man and said with contempt.

"Or they were desperate." He suggested. "There's never any shortage of folks hurting in this world. As long as you have that, there will always be criminals." Seth brayed, "Ah those sons of bitches are just mad that they didn't find it first! Finders keepers, partner!"

Jack reloaded his weapon. "Come to think of it, I don't know why I aint trying to kill ya myself. A man in the West who actually strikes gold is rare. So many fools look for it and rarely find it. I can't say I blame them for trying to shoot you."

Seth looked at him nervously but then said, "You sure are an angry man, friend! You should cheer up, the sun is shining and life is great!" Jack chuckled. "All this from a guy who used to diddle corpses because he had gold fever." Seth got an angry tone and said, "I told you it weren't me! Twas my old friend Moses! How do you even know about me?"

Jack snickered, "I've been all over New Austin and I've read a lot of old papers and heard a lot of campfire stories." Seth disregarded what he had just said and replied, "Those are just fables that old cow pokes make up to pass the time. You'd do well paying em no mind. Its all horse shit." Jack saw they were nearing Armadillo. "That's what somebody who had been digging graves would say."

Seth shot back, "You don't know me, fella! Your father, he knew me, he was with me in those days! When Moses Forth was doing all that grave digging. Your father know it weren't me!" Jack laughed bitterly and said, "Oh yeah, that's real clever. A dead witness. You pick a man who aint alive to back your story up? That's rich. The only reason you say that now is that he aint here to argue and speak for himself."

Seth told him, "You believe what you want to, partner! I know the truth!" They pulled up to the place and Seth slowed to a stop. Jack looked around nervously and said, "You know, friend I think I best get out of here. I'm pretty sure there's a bounty on my head. In fact I know there is."

Seth shook his head and handed him a piece of paper. "This here is a pardon letter. That should take care of the , you take that on over to the post office and meet me at the shop. You'll see the wagon nearby it."

Jack got out and headed into the office. he placed the pardon letter on the counter and said, "To new beginnings." The man nodded and said, "If you say so mister. Just don't fuck up again or you'll be hanging from a rope." Jack walked back outside disregarding what he had said. Jack walked to a building where the coach was and he saw that the building said WEST DICKENS MIRACLE ELIXIRS. He spotted Seth inside talking to an elder Caucasian fellow with white hair who was short and pudgy but had a pleasant enough look to his face. "Hey, Marston! Gt somebody I'd like you to meet. This is Mr. West Dickens. Dickens, Jack Marston."

The elder man shook hands and he said, "Marston? That's a name i shall never forget! It was a real shame what happened to him. I knew him! He helped me with my business when I was a lot less popular with the masses of greater New Austin. He won horse races too and even helped by being a volunteer. I wasn't aware he had any offspring! Its a pleasure to meet you, Jack."

Jack politely said, "You too, sir. Seems my father knew more people around these parts than I thought." West Dickens said, "Yes sir, indeed he did! Why those were good times when we rode these roads! Those were the days...your father even saved my life once. I was at deaths door and he got me away from it. He was an angry and hostile man but deep down, a good man."

He looked at Seth and then back at Jack. "Seth tells me you were looking for a way to get to Mexico? That you were looking for a man?" Jack nodded. "Yes sir. That man was an outlaw my father helped apprehend. I guess I just want to understand what my father went through better." Jack also thought _And to kill that son of a bitch Archer Fordham. Those were the two agents that my pa worked for so one down, two to go. ..._

West Dickens seemed interested in what Jack had to say. "Yes sir, I knew your father was trying to apprehend some old acquaintances of his, or at least that was the whole point of him attacking Fort was a truly epic battle. The forces of good versus evil. Lawmen against the lawless and the law prevailed!" Jack shook his head in disgust and told him, "Lawless, lawmen, I really don't see the difference between the two. Really the only difference is one calls themselves heroes and pats themselves on the back."

Nigel said, "That's a rather bleak outlook on society don't you think?" Jack shook his head and said with contempt. "Not really when you consider that my father worked for the lawmen and they ended up shooting him when they had no more use of him. So no, mister, I see no reason to go about glorifying the government like some would be crusaders."

The elder man laughed and said, "You truly are your fathers son, my boy! The brooding outlaw, the cynical outlook on life! Why, I can see you more in y our words than in your appearance!" Jack frowned. "Yeah, well life has a funny way of doing that to ya."

Seth handed Jack some money and said, "I appreciate the help mister! If you need some more work, you just drop on by here. Mr. West Dickens can get you a stagecoach to get over to Mexico if nobody else can! For now take that as a way of saying thanks for the help." Jack walked off counting the money as they went into the shop. He had just been paid $75. It was a lot of money to just get handed without breaking your back working your ass off but it still seemed like Seth probably could have afforded to give out more. Especially since he had just shot a bunch of outlaws from Thieves Landing and else where to protect his hide.

Jack took the payoff all the same but warned, "Seth, you lied to me back there, mister and I don't appreciate it. You accused the newspapers of being liars when they said you was exhuming dead folks. Now I don't know if you lied about that but you did know about my pa's death. You went and contradicted yourself by saying you read it in the Ledger. If you already read it why would you ask me what happened to my pa?"

Seth got defensive. "No, mister! It was nothing like that...I..."

Jack cut him off. "It don't matter. The point is, I don't know what else you were holding out on. We all tell white lies now and then but if you ever lie to me about anything regarding my father, I will put a bullet between them false teeth you got there. Do we understand each other, Seth?"

With that he walked away.

Jack noticed a woman with dark hair nearby and recognized Miranda. "Howdy, miss! What are you doing back around here?" She smiled, revealing pearly white teeth almost perfect which was a rare thing for a working girl. _She aint no working girl anymore, you judgmental bastard..._ he scolded himself silently and she answered, "I did some of the laundry and the dishes in the cabin but eventually I grew tired of being around the area for so long and I ended up taking a train here." She was talking to a gang hideout that was up in Great Plains. The house had actually been built last year over land purchased by a man named Clyde Evans who had wanted a place up in Blackwater but had hated the people there so he built a house near it.

According to what Samuel had told Jack a few nights ago, that during 1913, one of their friends, a man by the name of Joseph Gold had sought out refuge there after having been shot several times by Blackwater deputies, he had come across the man and the man had pulled a double barreled shotgun on him. The man had insisted that he leave the property or he would shoot him. Joseph had begged him and the man said to just let him stay until the law disappeared and surprisingly he did but as soon as the horses had ridden by and even an automobile had gone up the rode, Evans had been watching the window and said, "All right fella, they're gone. Now you get your ass outta here before I finish what they started!"

The man had not noticed that Joseph had removed his Semi automatic pistol from his holster and shot Clyde four times through the heart. Later, he managed to find the land deed by the man's night stand in his bedroom and no blood had gotten on it so he took it to the city claiming that the man had sold him the land deed and had made sure to pay off his bounty, oddly enough with the same money he had taken in a robbery and waited until late one night and began to ride on horse back with the dead man stuffed in an old rug and began to ride out toward the railroad tracks and he left the man's corpse there and shortly after, the remains were smashed up by a train.

Now, Joseph and his gang of misfits who had come from all sorts of disbanded gangs, the Baditos, the Walton Gang, and the Bollard Twins now resided in this house and usually only two or three members would stay there at the same time while most were out and about trying to get money anyway they could in various settlements and towns through New Austin. Jack observed four men walking into the saloon all of them menacing looking. "Well this is certainly no place for a lady, miss." She scoffed at his statement. "You know, there's a thin line between chivalry and chauvinism, Mr Marston!" Jack chuckled and said, "Those are some big words, Miranda." She put her hands on her hips. "Big words? For who? A Mexican? Or a woman?"

Jack maintained his innocence by saying, "Ma'am those are big words even for me! And I've read a lot more books than either of my parents! Plus, you know...its a different language where you're from." He said looking down. Miranda smiled again. "Well yes but when I was a working girl, it was my only escape, to read. One of the other girls taught me how. I already knew how to read and write in Espanol." She looked at the 19 year old cowboy with a curiosity to her caramel skinned face. "You still read?"

Jack sheepishly said he hadn't. "I'm afraid not. I did when I was sixteen but...let's just say I haven't been able to take the time to read much ever since my father was killed. I guess reality was of much of a slap in the face. I used to read of adventure stories set in the West about outlaws and bandits but then I realized, real life is a lot more chaotic. The books just don't compare to the real thing."

She seemed saddened by this and said, "Lo Siento. It would be better if you still did. You used to enjoy reading so why give that up? In this world full of bad things, we have to enjoy the small things in life." Jack chuckled again and said, "Well I just told ya why I don't no more, Miranda!" She smiled with patience but said, "Si, I understand that but if I may be honest, it doesn't seem like a good enough reason."

Jack started to reply but was distracted as he overhead a confrontation between two men going on nearby. Jack turned to see Herbert Moon arguing with a man who had dark hair and dark and somewhat sad eyes and a black beard. "This here is my business, pard and if you don't like my right to free speech you can get your ass out! Your kind brought in the railroad and now them Jews in Blackwater run it all!" The man angrily poked Herbert in the chest, "Free speech don't mean you get to say what you want! There aint Jews in Blackwater, either mister that's a southern city and bigots like you terrorize people for being different."

Herbert told him, "I run an honest business, fella and I sell all American goods. I sell to the American working man because that's what I am and that's who I care about. We don't need filthy Jews coming here and having their big government and the bank take over all the small businesses!" The bearded man stood his ground and warned, "I'd chose your next words, real careful mister!"

Herbert scoffed. "You get your ass outta here, or I'm gonna call the Sheriff." The man pounded his fist on the counter. "A bigoted piece of trash like you shouldn't be allowed to have his own shop. You probably don't even remember me but you and I have played poker games before n the saloon. I've heard you trash every kind of man under the sun. Jews, Negroes, Indians, Mexicans, Orientals, and foreigners, even though your family came here from somewhere!" Herbert snarled, "You're a nosy little Heeb aint ya? I don't need to know you people to know how you are. Now get on..." He never finished his sentence.

In surprising speed, the man reached for his Revolver and had it ready by the time he brought it forward, which he had done so fast, it looked as though he hadn't done it at all. He fired and hit the man. The shop keeper was hit about three inches left of his heart. He clutched at the bloody wound and the man fired again before Herbert could do anything and the old man fell to the floor. The man exited the shop and the younger Fortuna sister watched in a slight sense of awe. "Who the hell was he? You're looking at him like he's Jesus or something, Miranda!" Jack remarked.

She excitedly said, "Si! That is Joseph Gold! The man who took the house we are staying at! It was rumored he had been shot by Blackwater policia but this is not true! I have heard so many stories since I came to America but I have never seen him in the flesh!" Jack smirked. "Shall we go introduce ourselves?" More shots rang out and Jack grabbed her arm to pull her away from harm beckoning for her to stay low and stay behind him. Two deputies had just tried to shoot him but he had two Revolvers and had unloaded three rounds into one and two into the brain of the other.

More lawmen gave chase but Joseph was already on horseback and fleeing but as he fled, he fired his last few bullets in each gun. Jack watched for the posse to be rounded up to go after Gold. He turned to Miranda. "We should get you someplace safe, miss." She turned to him and nodded in agreement. "Where?" He took her hand and they got to a stage coach. He told the man driving the stage coach, "Take us to Macfarlane Ranch, mister." The coach driver began to get the horses moving. Miranda asked, "What are we doing there? What is in Macfarlane Ranch? Its that big one in Hennigan's Stead, no?" Jack nodded.

"Just a friend of my fathers. She visited us and his grave a few times but with her getting married and all to whoever she did, things changed, she couldn't visit as much. They did check up on me and Ma every now and then, her and her pa but they had a ranch to run. Still, Bonnie, the lady running the place said if I ever needed anything to come by and ask. Well now is as good a time as any."

Miranda took an interest and asked him, "Did he save her life too, like he did mine and Luisa's?" Jack nodded. "Far as i know he did. Pa sure saved a lot of lives while me and my ma were taken away." Miranda smiled, the ray of sunshine illuminating her pretty brown face. "I'm sorry you lost him. I know that my sister had a great amount of respect for him. Since I haven't been able to get word back home that I'm alive, I think she must be worried! Her and Emilio, both."

Jack asked with curiosity, "Who is Emilio?" She told him, "He was a revolutionary too. He is a revolutionary. He helped Abraham Reyes take the country. He and Luisa stayed behind, my mother was said to have escaped too and come to the United States but I have not seen her. My father he...didn't make it." She said sadly.

Jack comforted her saying, "Don't worry, miss. We'll find your sister and your brother. Mexico is the first place we're headed, believe me! Besides, if the federals are really after me, I aint gonna have a choice as it is." Miranda seemed surprised at him saying this. "Do you really think you could make it in Mexico? The country is still at war and there is a lot more poverty than there is in America."

Jack sighed. "I'm probably going to have to! Besides, if there's one thing I've learned in my life its that nowhere in the world is easy on the poor. Hell, I been down there a few times, did a few errands for some people here and there and I saw some battles but I minded my own business. I didn't get caught in the middle of the war." The coach slowed down in the middle of the road as there were six men on horseback in front of it. A man wearing a brown hat and who wore a Ranchers clothing.

It was similar to what John had once worn. The man had messy blonde hair and a scraggly beard. "Hold it right there, friend! Where are ya'll headed?" The stage coach driver said, "We're already full, mister we can't take anymore people on this ride but another coach should be along shortly." The man scowled and said, "We didn't ask you that partner. Now where are ya'll going? Who are the passengers? A couple of rich aristocrats?"

Jack stuck his head out of the inside of the coach and asked, "There a problem here fellas?" The man looked at him and demanded, "Who might you be? Get on outta there!" The man on the leaders right was a mean looking Mexican in a pancho and he had a Cattleman's Revolver out and ready and so did the man to his left was a chubbier man with a red face and who had messy hair. He also had a pistol out. "You heard the man, cabron! Get out here!" Said the man on his right.

Jack stepped outside his hand on his holster. "We don't want any trouble mister. We're just trying to be on our way. Now please let us through." The man snorted. "Who are you? These here roads belong to us. You want in you gotta pay the toll."

Jack glared and told them. "Listen here, partner we aint done you no wrong so there's no need to resort to trying to intimidate us. I'm afraid I aint got much money either." The man withdrew his pistol too and said, "Not much money is better than none. & none is better than being dead. Now give it up. Hey, who's the lady in there?" One of them recognized Miranda. "That there is one of Shifty's girls! She was a working girl at the saloon in Armadillo." The man cackled. "Boy, she may be young but she's a fast learner!" Jack stared at the man who said that who was riding alongside of the coach now pulling his horse to Miranda's side.

He was a man with brown hair and cold blue eyes. "Remember me darling?" Miranda snarled, "As many tiny dick idiotas that came through there? Chale!" The Mexican goon laughed at that. Jack got his Evans out unstrapping it and said, "Boys, I'm gonna give you to the count of three before I start shooting. Get on outta here!" The driver handed the leader some money and said, "Please sir, I'm a married man and I'm just getting by with this job! Please let us go!"

One of the other gang members, a man with a black beard and who wore a duster coat said, "Wait just a minute there! Are you John Marston?" Jack looked at him like he was crazy. "No." The guy looked at him and insisted, "That there is John Marston!" The leader shouted at his friend. "Rufus shut your pie hole! John Marston is thirty seven years old, this here is a young buck!" Jack couldn't believe these morons. He wondered why they were stalling and why they hadn't attacked yet. "I'm telling you, Tim! He ambushed me and a whole bunch of other boys! He had a Howitzer and he shot just about all of us! Then Marshal Johnson's deputies wounded me. I nearly died that day! He killed just about everyone at Fort Mercer! Bill got away to Mexico but this man killed him along with Aliende! It was in the papers!"

The gang leader, Tim scoffed. "John Marston may have done all that but he's dead now! The government shot him dead. They played that boy like a fiddle. I gotta say, this boy does bear a resemblance though." The gang member with the black beard said, "He did it all cause of his son and wife! Bill was yapping about that, said that was the reason John came for him! This boy must be his son!" The bearded man had a sawed off shotgun hidden under the coat and he fired it trying to hit Jack but Jack ducked down by the stage coach wheels. The blast did however, hit the stage coach driver in the shoulder.

The red faced man began firing his pistol at Jack and a bullet went past his left ear. Jack aimed and squeezed the trigger twice. The first round hit the man in his fat gut. The second hit him in his right fat rosy cheek and the round blew out part of his cheek bone and it went all the way up to his eye socket. Jack fired and shot the Mexican bandit next and hit him in the left shoulder. He fired again and hit him in the right chest and then again in the stomach. The man fell off his horse and the horses neighed as gunshots went off. Jack was hit by a bullet from Tim and Jack was hit by a bullet in the arm. Jack caught another slug in the side and he fell. Jack got to his feet firing, and hit the gang leader in the waist. The man cried out as the bullet hit him.

"Bill Williamson was our friend! He had to die for some piss ant kid?" The man shouted but Jack fired three more shots into his chest. The bullets went up his torso marking him up like a button up shirt with bloody holes. Tim hit the ground, his blood soiling the dirt road. The man with the brown hair and blue eyes had an arm around Miranda's neck and yelled, "You yella bellied sum bitch! I got your whore now!" The bearded gang member who mistook Jack for his father said, "Yeah! You killed our Mexican now we should kill yours!" The blue eyed guy said, "No! We'll give the boy a chance. Drop the gun and we might be inclined to let her live!"

Jack quickly aimed just as the man pressed the barrel to her head and fired, catching him in his dead eye. The shot tore into the man's skull and Miranda was unharmed. The man fell to the earth, his brains and the broken cartilage from his nose raining upon his bloodied face. She snatched the gun from the dead man and fired at the bearded thug. She hit him twice in the stomach and once in the collar bone on the left side. The man lay there writhing in agony still alive but critically wounded. He stared at the two of them and taunted, "Come on... do it." Jack kicked his gun away and said, "No...I think we're gonna leave you here a while, mister."

He turned to the stage coach driver, "We're ready to go m..." He noticed the stage coach driver, aside from the initial wound was lying dead with a bullet in his head almost falling off. Jack pulled him off. They got into the sage coach and rode the rest of the way. "Jesus...you believe the nerve of these bastards? While the government maybe full of thugs, people would do well to remember that a lot of bandits are out for themselves too and will harm any innocent people to get what they want!"

She sighed. "Its just sad, because a lot of people in Mexico really are doing that to survive! But it seems like out here people enjoy killing for the sake of killing." Jack shrugged. "Maybe but that's everywhere aint it?"

They finally arrived and Jack headed up to the house, not sure if they would be home or if they'd be willing to let them use the old sleeping quarters his father had used. He knocked and was greeted by the face of Bonnie Macfarlane. _Here goes..._

_Residence Of Joshua Freeman_

Phillip Ross was smoking a cigarette. "Listen here, boy. My brother is dead because of that law breaking sum bitch and your sons helped him. I've been trying to find out where that little pecker head was for an entire year you understand me? Had me think he was with the government and i told him where my brother was only to have him shoot Edgar in cold blood!"

Joshua stood firm. "I fought for this country, mister. I aint a boy. I'm older than you! Now I'm no longer an outlaw I told you i left that life." He glared at Agent Fordham. "You're responsible for the death of my son. He did your dirty work for you. You and Agent Ross both, ya'll went and killed Ellis. I can't say for certain you were there but Ross was there. I'm glad that man is dead and I sure as hell aint gonna help you arrest or kill a good boy like Jack just so's you can avenge an evil government agent."

Agent Fordham crossed his arms and said, "I can promise you I had nothing to do with the shooting of your son that was Ross's doing. He meant well but he got a little too hell bent on bringing criminals to justice. Really, he didn't pull the trigger he just let it happen. That's all irrelevant. Your boys are wanted for a shooting in Armadillo. Now they may have given the Sheriff a pardon letter but that doesn't mean we can't still hunt them on a federal level. They don't have to go down for Jack."

Agent Fordham pointed out, "Hell we might be obliged to let you go if you let us search your home." Joshua sighed but said, "Come on in." Archer, Phillip, and the four federal goons with them, all armed went inside. They began to search, pulling things off the shelf, ripping covers off beds. "Come on, now you know two grown adults can't hide in there!"

Phillip warned, "Do you want to swing from a rope? Quit being uppity!" One of the agents in a gray jacket over a silver vest said, "Mr. Freeman are you a believer in the lord?"

Joshua said, "Yes sir! All my life! Twas the lord Jesus himself who aided me in battle to earning me and everybody their freedom."

The man had dark hair that was matted and a black beard. "Ya see your grandsons aren't bad people. They've just been lead down the wrong path. You see I used to do all of these things myself I ran with a gang all my life. But I got shot one day by a law man. I managed to plug him before I blacked out. Then I came to in a cat house. Some girls stitched me up. I survived because of God. And just like St. Paul I was shown the error of my ways! I found that my gun was nothing without my savior, Jesus Christ!"

Joshua said nothing and let him continue. "Though I was patched up, by whores no doubt, I got to work for these fine government fellas. I was never led astray. I have been on the path to bring the word of god to this lawless land!" He stopped and said, "And those harlots, they were brought to justice."

He grinned a twisted grin. "You killed them girls?" Joshua asked him. He didn't need to answer. He could see it in in his eyes. "That aint the way, mister! You're supposed to teach them the way, not kill them! Jesus took pity on an adulteress and a working girl washed his feet! Why didn't you give them the chance? Everybody deserves a chance at forgiveness!"

The man laughed. "Sir, do you know who I am? I am Rusty Moore. The one and only! In my life, I have killed twenty seven men. When I was through with that whore house I'd delivered six more women to the lord through the hammer of God," Joshua looked at him in fear as he announced his name.

Joshua walked over to a bookshelf and faced down his back to them but warned, "You get the hell outta my house. Right now," He warned.

An agent in a gray suit said, "That's all right. We'll come back to get you when we string your boys up. They're black asses won't even need a trial. Like father like son." Joshua had a Cattleman revolver hidden inside a book and he whirled around with his good hand and fired two shots. He hit the agent in the chest and the man fell to the ground,. He tried to turn his gun onto Rusty but Rusty fired his Henry and hit the elder man in the stomach. Joshua hit the ground.

Agent Fordham shook his head at the former outlaw turned bounty hunter. "Couldn't you have shot him to wound him, Rusty? That is not the way we do things. It would have been better that he stood trial." Rusty scoffed at this statement as he took the Revolver from the dead man's hands.

"Mister, I just did him a favor! This fella would have gotten a lynch mob if we put him on trial! A colored man killing a federal agent? It wouldn't have mattered where we had trial either. Hell it could have been Blackwater they still would have hung him and probably jabbed him with a pitch fork while he was hanging! I gave him the quickest death."

Archer Fordham crossed his arms. "You are supposed to be done with your criminal life. Not getting further into it. This is not the way. From now on, we take them alive do you understand? As for this man's grandsons, they're now in a similar predicament as their father and grandfather but if they cooperate."

He paused and cleared his throat, "If they will testify against Jack Marston in court, we will pardon them. Even put them in witness protection if they can lead us to Marston. After all, it is him we want. Shooting Agent Ross in cold blood, retired or otherwise, in the eyes of the law, he is the same kind of man as his father. All the men that the Freeman boys killed were just low level lawmen. A bunch of dumb Armadillo cowpokes. Those are a dime a dozen."

Rusty spat tobbaco juice on the floor. "All due respect sir, I know that is not true. You have used these kinds of means of dealing with criminals before. What I did here, shooting down a man in his own home is no different than what Agent Ross did at Beecher's Hope to Marston three years ago. Sometimes, sinners want redemption but other times, they nash their teeth at those trying to save them. Now I don't resent this man one bit for what he did."

He said looking at the fallen body of Joshua Freeman. "He tried to leave the robbery days behind him but his son didn't see the light and neither did his grandsons. Now he had to die but he just did what any father, any grandfather would do to protect their youngins."

Agent Fordham scowled and then informed him, "In that case, Mr. Moore, you made this mess, I'll let you clean it up. You take the body of Agent Wallace back to Blackwater and you send his family a telegraph so they can get out here and pay their respects."

Rusty lifted the agent's body and slung him over his shoulder grunting at how much the man weighed. "This fella has gone and shit himself! Mr Fordham, I don't believe Mr. Wallace has any family. This dumb old cowpoke is just a piece of trash from Tumbleweed. I don't think anybody would miss him. Hell I could toss him in the River and nobody would care."

Agent Fordham sternly raised his voice. "You'd better not throw him in the river! I don't care if he has any family or not he is a federal agent and he deserves a proper burial! If you can't get him to blackwater you will have to find a grave and dig it for him yourself. I don't think I need to remind you that in spite of what you have done for us, that doesn't change your past. Do not get on my bad sad, sir."

Rusty put him on the horse out front and began to ride off, the horse, had belonged to Joshua Freeman but the old timer would no longer have need for it. Agent Fordham told the two agents that stayed behind, "I want you three to get rid of the body. Search for any intelligence regarding where the boys must have gone. If Jack Marston and the Freeman brothers were seen together they must have come here and the old man must have known something. I'm heading back to Blackwater."

He got into his automobile and was soon on his way. The three agents went back inside and began searching through the drawers and threw books off the shelves. "For a shoe shine, boy somebody was a hell of a reader!" Said one of them and the others laughed at the remark.

The automobile was nearly out of sight but did not notice two horses approaching the residence from the East.

The Freeman brothers were deep in conversation. "Sam, you're being a fool. No good deed goes unpunished. Now I don't hate the man but let's not forget who his papa was. Ours got killed before his did in the exact same way. We hang around him long enough one of us will end up dead. We led him to the right people to get him to Mexico and that's as far as we go with Marston. We can't trust too many people these days."

They stopped Lester saying, "Sam,hold on. Something's not right. I think that was the law in that automobile. Let's go on foot." Samuel nodded and Lem whispered in the horses ear a secret command he had been taught to get them to stay put. "Stay there, girl. We'll whistle when we need you." Upon saying that, Lester and Samuel readied their weapons, Lester, a Springfield, and Sam, a double barreled shotgun. They began to creep toward the house. They crouched low and kept moving and could hear two men inside. _No...make that three..._ Lem thought to himself.

One of the agents, a man with fire red hair and a scraggily beard was lifting a body. "You know this old timer used to be an outlaw himself? Went and robbed himself a lot of banks all over New Austin. That was back when this territory was just starting to get some law around here. From a slave to a Yankee soldier to a working man to a stone dead corpse," He said. "Oh well! Guess Jesus wasn't with him after all! I don't believe in any of that mumbo jumbo anyway. Ol Rusty is dumber than a mule if he does."

Lester's eyes went wide as he saw his father. He had been shot. He aimed the Springfield and fired hitting the red haired man in the upper part of the back of his thigh the round tearing into his posterior. The man howled in agony and staggered, but withdrew his gun. He fired again and hit him in the left side of his right knee. He cried out and fell to the floor as the round tore through the cartilage. He fell to the floor, his government issue pistol discharging as he fell. He held b his bloody wound as he writhed in pain. He fired again and put a bullet in his brain.

Samuel charged into the house letting off his shotgun and he missed one shot but hit an agent in the chest with the next. The man flew back several feet and hit the book shelf. He took cover as the last one fired back. Lester reloaded, fired and hit the agent in the side of the face. The agent went down but was still alive, his ear having been blown off and he also had a hole in his cheek. The man whimpered in agony and was shaking. Lester and put the barrel to his face and demanded, "Did you kill him?"

The man shook his head struggling to talk spitting the slug from his bloody mouth. "I swear...m... .mister...it wasn't me...Rusty..." Lester looked at him and said, "Well I'll be doing to Rusty what I did to you and much worse." He fired, putting a shot between his eyes and the round tore through the front on his skull.

"Son of a bitch!" He whacked the already dead agent with the Rifle and split his already broken face apart even further. "He was a veteran, god damn you!" He snarled in feral rage, tears running down his cheeks. Samuel pulled him away and hugged him and he wept at the loss of his grandfather. He sobbed loudly while Samuel's tears were silent.

"At least we get to bury him. Not these boys." Sam said, the words not comforting but still ringing true and he spat on the corpse of the nearest agent. "We'll bury grandpa and then these bastards. Maybe we should just throw them in the river. Give the fish something to eat. That's about all they're good for."

Lester tearfully muttered, "God damn you, Jack Marston. God damn you for bringing this mess on us."

Samuel scolded him wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his brown coat. "It aint his fault, Les. Its the government. All them books you read aint you say they were crooked from the start? You read books most white men aint even read about our government! Look at how they treated grandpa? He fought for his freedom but at the same time, he helped save the Union, Les! And they still treated him like he was expandable. Under paid jobs, that's why him and Daddy became bank robbers. You know the story! The Federals aint no different than the Klan!. Jack is a good kid and just like us he's been wronged by the law,. We need to count our blessings and recognize who are our friends and who are our enemies."

* * *

_That's all for this chapter people. Nothing to say so drop a review and i will answer any questions you may have. I decided to edit this a bit and put the bit with Joshua Freeman's death into this chapter rather than five as it originally was that way the focus wouldn't be too much on the OC's so this way they will have had something happen to them just as any supporting character had happen in RDR. The next chapter is gonna be strictly focused on Jack. After that, I don't know we will see. _


	5. Back To The Ranch

_All right still no reviews but I guess it don't 's the update of my story. I deleted a lot of Afro's old authors notes and am replacing them with my own except for the ones that i feel can still be used in relevance to the story. Any mistakes i may have missed as far as the timeline please let me know and I will fix it. In this story it was originally set in 1915 but i decided to just put it back on 1914 the year the game pretty much leaves off on. So that said, Please review this time_

* * *

_Chapter 5_

"Can, I help you, mister? Have we met before?" The blonde farmer asked him. She looked at him as though he were a complete stranger even though he had met her four years ago. He had looked so young back then however and a lot more innocent. She paused taking in the appearance of her unexpected visitor and she added, "You look strangely familiar, mister. I swear I know you but I don't know how I know you."

Jack cleared his throat. "Yes ma'am. We have met before. I'm Jack Marston. We only met once but i remember you helped my pa and my ma out. You sold us some cattle. Do you remember my pa?"

With that, upon realizing who he was, she threw her arms around the young man and squeezed him in a hug. "Jack! This can't be you You've grown so much! I was sorry to hear about your father. He was a good man. Your ma too. I did stop and put flowers on their graves ya know. I just been so busy here."

Jack felt uncomfortable because he had only met this woman once and this was when his father was alive and though it was three years ago, it seemed farther away than that in his past. Yet she was kind, her smile warm. "Is there anything i can do for ya? You know i saved your pa once and i give him a place to stay. We aint found much use for the old shack he stayed in so if you ever needed a place to sleep I'd be more than happy to oblige!"

Jack struggled to find his words. "I...ma'am i can't possibly impose. I..." She interrupted him shaking her head.

"Nonsense!" She said shaking her head. "Not at all! If you are your fathers son, i know that you're a good young man. You may not know this but i actually befriended your mother. I mean in a way i feel like i lost John too. I can't believe all that happened to him!"

Jack hadn't known this as he had been mostly preoccupied all the time with doing farm chores and while he did try to comfort his mother while they were mourning the loss of his father, he often found himself over working out in the barn and in the field just so he could forget the horrid events of the shooting at Beecher's Hope.

He had actually worked harder, chucking hay faster as he swallowed that rage in the pit of his gut, dreaming in broad daylight, of the day he would avenge his father's murder. "No maa'm. I had no idea. I took care of ma and i ran to get her everything she needed but I had no idea what she was up to when I would work. Im glad she had a friend though. She seemed so lonely in her last days. I don't even know how she caught the consumption but I can't help but think she got it when they had me and her locked up."

Bonnie shook her head, inviting him inside. "You poor boy. I remember your pa like it was just yesterday I picked him up off the ground at Fort Mercer. He didn't telll me at first but eventualy he told me about his situation with you and your mother being held hostage. I can't believe men who claim to be representing law and order would do such a thing! Hell, my own pa never much did care for those government types in their fancy pants and suits. He was right."

Another person was in the house and he came into the room sizing up Jack. He was a thin ugly man, a Caucasian wearing a cowboy hat and ranch clothing. He had a handle bar mustache as well. "Bonnie who is this fella? He looks familiar but I can't figure why," He looked at Marston in the eye and said, "What business do you got with my wife, mister?"

Bonnie came in, nervously laughing and apologized saying, "Sweet heart I am sorry this is Jack Marston. Jack, this is my husband, Amos Stilton."

Amos looked at him with alarm. "Marston? Are you by chance related to a John Marston? You kinda look like him."

Jack nodded, grinning sheepishly. "Yes sir, you could say that. Give ya a hint. He aint my brother."

Amos shook his hand roughly saying, "Well, its nice to meet you Jack! Your pa was a great man. Its really a shame what happened. He was a good fella. Bonnie read me the Ledger about it. About a week after it happened. You know that man helped this ranch out more than I ever did? Saved the cattle from being run off a cliff and saved our horses from being burned with the barn. Shoot, I probably would have gotten to know the man better the last time I saw him if I'd known he was gonna...well you know..."

Bonnie scolded his foolish words slapping him hard on the shoulder and another man entered the room. "What's going on in here, Bonnie? Who's this?" This man was an older gentleman large in stature. He had a mustache slightly larger but similar to Amos's. He had gray hair and wore a brown jacket over a white shirt. He had a piercing look in his eyes.

"Oh pa? Just in time. I got us a visitor. Do yo remember this man? You met him once before. This is Jack Marston. Three years ago, you met him here. Only briefly though."

The older man looked at the young man with a puzzled expression. "You're Jack? I remember you! You were that little squirt John had with him! You've sure gotten big, boy! I almost forgot John had a son! Pleased to meet ya, son. I'm Drew Macfarlane. What brings you to our humble home?"

Jack thought to himself _Since when do humble homes have a General Store and a Foreman's Office?_ However he did not say this as it would be impolite. He answered, "Honestly, sir, I have no idea. Ive just been trying to piece together what the last days of my father's life was like and I'm just trying to find out more about what he went through. Since Bonnie here, saved his life, I decided I'd try and find out everything I could from every person my pa knew in his last days."

Drew looked at him with curiousity tilting his head to the side a bit. "Last days? I thought he spent his last days at home with you?"

Jack corrected himself. "That's true, mister but i meant the last people he associated with while he was trying to get back to me and my ma. See, he did spend his final days with us but I know that whatever he did while we were away, affected him down the road. I was just hoping Bonnie, might be able to tell me what he was like"

Bonnie nodded. "Of course. Anything I can do to help!"

Drew eyed the youngster with a hint of curiousity. "Where you staying, boy?"

Jack told him , "My pa had an old room he used to rent at the saloon in Armadillo.I reckon I can stay there the night. I got enough cash. After that, I have some things I need to do. So all due respect, nice to meet ya'll but I gotta get riding before it gets dark. Its been a hell of a long day."

Drew chuckled and said, "Nonsese! You'll stay here! Your father stayed in a place bonnie set up for him. We aint done much to change it up. I...uh...noticed you got yourself a female companion. Ya'll will have to make do just with what we got I'm afraid. What with all the ranch hands filling in now that Amos is with Bonnie, all the extra spaces are taken aside from that there shed."

Jack nodded. "I appreciate your hospitality, sir," He took his hat off tipping it to Bonnie saying, "Miss Macfarlane. Much obliged."

She laughed. "I'm gonna tell you like I told your stubborn father, call me Bonnie ya dope! I aint that many years older than you are!"

Jack walked to Miranda to explain the situation to her. Sme smiled sweetlty at him but said, "Si but don't try anything funny. I keep a knife on me at all times."

Jack chuckled at that and said, "Don't you worry, miss. I aint that type of man anyway. My parents always advised me against working girls any how. Most of them were too old for me anyway. You're the only one i met even close to my age. I reckon you're the same age as me, right? Nineteen?"

She confirmed this. "Si but what do you mean by that? Stay away from working girls? Do you hate them?"

Jack sighed. "No ma'am. I don't hate anybody but the law and teh men responsible for kiling my family. I guess I just been warned against women like that. My Uncle...well he was kinda like an uncle, warned me about the women at the saloon. I think he might have known that from personal expirience. He died too. He got killed in the shooutout back home too. He was the first to die. He was a bit of a drunk old coot but he was a goood man."

Mirandda's brown eyes were filled with wonder and a bit of hut. "You know...," She began, "I didn't ask to get in that line of work. That was the kind of life i wanted to escape. That is why mi familia had me escape to America. Colonel Aliende was known for taking young girls as sex slaves. The man I lived with at first as I told you, died. Then I ended up working the saloon. At least there i got paid," There was a look of shame in her eyes and she looked at him saying, "I didn't want to do it. It is not easy being who I aam. I have not heard from my sister in years even though she is the wife of a great revolutionary. "

Jack softned his tone telling her, "Its not that I'm judging you I just didn't want to become one of those kinds of men. Like the old gang my pa used to un with. I aint judging the working girls. After all, my mother was one! The difference is, my pa married her even though the rest of the gang...well.. you know..."

Her eyes filled with curiousity. "Was your mother a good woman? A good mother?"

He nodded. "She was the best. Even when pa was away, she stayed tried to help me through when we were being held at whatever jail they put us in. I used to tell her all my frustrations. She gave me my space when i just waned to get lost in a book but she was always there when i needed to talk."

She nodded. When it got dark they decided to turn in. Jack took off his jacket as a makeshift blanket and got on the floor. She looked down at him from the bed. "Jack, what are you doing? You don't have to sleep down there. I trust you. Just no funny stuff!"

He did as she said and joined her but stared at the ceiling until he began to drift off. She kissed him on the cheek saying, "Thank you for saving me."

His eyes began to drift shut minutes later but his eyes opened again. God he could use a drink...

_Jack stumbled in a drunken stupor at Beecher's Hope. "Who's that on my porch? Get out or I will shoot ya, mister! I aint kidding!" Out stepped the dark figure. Jack tried to aim at him, and focus on the features of his face. He fired three times but as he pulled the trigger a fourth time, his gun jammed. He had entirely too much to dink. The world span around him and he was very dizzy and felt like vomiting but did not even know which way was up or down to even bend over and throw up. The gun hit the ground and he followed with a thud, the world still blurry but the dark figure still approached him. "You stay away from me, mister!" He warned in vain. The man stopped and looked down on him. He was stricken with fear. Was this the man in the black hat he had been told about before that horrible day at Beecher's Hope? Was this the embodiment of death, come to snatch up the next generation of outlaws off of the family tree before the branch had yet to grow?_

_"Are...you here to kill me? A...a...are you death?" The man replied in a sinister voice, "Who I am is not important Mr. Marston. What's more important is who you are. You gunned down a federal agent, boy! You shot up Armadillo and you're the spitting image of your father. You may look a little different in appearance but I can see inside you Jack and your souls look exactly the same. You're just as reckless as when John met Abigail you know that?" Jack tried to crawl away in a panic but the man advanced toward him all the same. "Unlike your pa, it aint too late for you. See your father left that life, and the proper will judge him in the last day. For now, he's in Sheol. The land of the dead."_

_Jack looked up letting his gun fall. "What...? Is that heaven or hell?" The man chuckled. "I'd expect a boy who used to read so much to know better! If you're thinking of the lake of fire, that's Gehenna and nobody goes there until judgement day. The same goes for heaven. Hell is just a Greek word for Sheol, boy and that just means the land of the dead. There's a chasm between the cursed and the blessed while they await their Resurrection. I got your ma and pa down there. As for whether they are among the cursed or the saved I can't tell you. You're going down the same path as your father though and i can tell ya where that's going to land you in this life."_

_It was raining heavily upon Jack who was on his back in the dirt which was becoming mud. Lightning flashes and thunder sounded and Jack spotted another man walking toward him through the rain dressed in a Ranchers outfit. "Jack! This isn't what I wanted for you son!" Jack looked at him and closed his eyes, pained by the site of his father, a face he never thought he'd see again. "Go away." He groaned. "You aren't real!" John grabbed his arm hard and said, "I'm as real as that gun you got there! What were you thinking? I sacrificed so much so that you could have that farm! How could you throw that all away?" Jack shouted back in fury, " That hurts!"_

_He shoved his hand away. "You left me no choice! Hell, you of all people should know why! You went through all that just to get me and ma back home and they murdered you! The minute they did that, it was all null and void! I'm not the one who did wrong, pa, they did!"_

_John's face was unmistakable. His brown eyes were filled with sorrow for what had become of his son. "Two wrongs don't make a right boy. I learned that a long time ago." There was a blinding flash of lightning in front of Jack's eyes and he cried out as it blinded him but when he opened his eyes again, he was in the bed he was staying at in Bonnie's Ranch._

Jack closed his eyes and then opened them again, trying to adjust to the light of the sun. He looked and saw that he was indeed in the room. He could hear chattering of the people outside. "Just a dream..." He muttered. As he stood up and put on his hat he noticed his arm had pain. He looked at his arm and rolled his sleeve up. There he saw the bruise in the indication of a hand grabbing him...

His heart began to beat fast when he saw this.

___Armadillo_

Jack rode his horse through town as he was meant to be meeting both Seth and West Dickens again. Supposedly, they needed help with something. Jack pulled up to the front of the Nickelodeon movie house and waited. Finally the wagon pulled up. "Mr. Marston! Salutations my boy! How are you this fine morning?" Asked Dickens.

Jack crossed his arms. "Running outta patience, mister. I need to get to Mexico mister. There's still one other agent responsible for killing my pa and I need to meet a man who can tell me who it is."

West Dickens got off the wagon and so did Seth and he said, "I can assure you, young man, that we will help you achieve your requirements all in good time. But to get across the border costs money. The war is still going on! Take out one tyrant, and another takes place. You know, your father went down there a few years ago during the war too."

Jack sighed with frustration. "I know he did! That's why I'm going down there. Nobody seems to know anything at all up here or maybe they just aint looking to tel what they know. The government set him up. I know they did but at least in Mexico its a different country and out there, people know that the government are the real criminals. Out here, people have a harder time seeing that. Maybe they can help me. If my pa really was a help in their revolution, then they can help me by pointing me in the direction of the man who will know which agents murdered my father."

Nigel West dickens nodded in reverence for the late John Marston and told him, "Well, I hate to burst your bubble boy, but a lot of people are saying that the man your father knew, Abraham Reyes, turned out to be as big of a crook as Colonel Aliende was when he was alive. I'm not too sure if they would help you. He became the very thing he was fighting. As its said, Absolute power corrupts. Its true here and its true in warn torn impoverished places like Nuevo Paradiso. The only people who seemed to even grasp the concept of Democracy properly was the Greeks. Maybe Americans should take a lesson from the fathers of Democracy," Her then paused and added with a chuckle, "Minus the sodomy , of course."

Jack sighed. "What do you want, old timer?" He lit a cigarette. Miranda had gone to check up on Lester and Samuel but they would meet up later at Hennigan's Stead. The older man rubbed his palms together.

"We are going to transport some of my elixirs. We need to get it to a warehouse out in Thieves Landing. Seth, here owns, this warehouse and is thinking about expanding more of his business all around New Austin and making his own stores have more supplies. Why I tell you, my dear boy, if we make enough money, we will have more than enough of what we need to get you and your lady friend across the border!" West Dickens informed him.

Jack sighed. "If you say so, mister. Let's get moving." Nigel would be riding inside, while Jack and Seth would be up top, Jack riding shotgun. They began to ride out of Armadillo. "So, did your old man take you hunting or any of that sort of thing? I really would have never guessed he was out to get his son back, I just figured he hated Bill Williamson. Now that I think about it, that makes it a bit more noble than just shooting a guy outta revenge!"

Jack shrugged at what Seth had said. "It was never for revenge. Sure Bill and all the others left him for dead on that raid on the ferry but I hardly think that had anything to do with it. My pa was capable of tracking them down if he wanted to and he could have killed them all back then if that was what he wanted. He didn't though he just wanted out of the life. It was always about getting his family back. Now that I think about it, the more I start to understand why he did all that he did," He then added, "Yeah he took me hunting. I only got as good at it as i did after he showed me the right way to do it. I complained at the time but now I know it was for my own good. I wish I could have believed that back then. I wish i could have told him that."

Nigel West Dickens pointed out, "I knew there was goodness about that young man! All though I must inform you that in this day and age hunting and gathering is becoming obsolete. Even the Marshall who ran this town four years ago knew this. He helped your pa in the assault on Fort Mercer. He's retired somewhere up north now, much like your agent Ross I'd imagine!"

Jack , though he had as a boy, wished that they had an easier life and there had been times he had hated living on the farm, got defensive. "That way of life will never be done away with, Dickens! Even if it does in this country there will always be a part of the world that likes the simple life. Now those federal bastards can come to New Austin and try to force their authority and their telephones on us but we aint gonna make it easy on them. I understand that there have to be rules to keep chaos from happening but people seem to forget that the government is nothing but criminals themselves! hat's worse, they convinced people that they stand for peace and civilization. Well that's all baloney. When they murder and steal and rape they get medals and congratulations. They aint no better than Dutch Van Der Linde or Bill Williamson They're just two sides of the same coin."

Just then, they noticed six men on horse back blocking the road. One of them, a man wearing a cowboy hat, with dark hair, and a few missing front teeth, and bushy eyebrows, rode toward the stagecoach. "Well well well. If it isn't my old friend, my best pal, Seth Bryers. Been a long time, friend! Three years, you don't write, you don't call, you know that fella invented a telephone now, right? You could have called me. I mean, i stay at the same old place now in Thieves Landing. That's where i stay now."

Seth looked at the man with a scowl on his face. "You know why. You betrayed me, remember? You stole half my map! If you had stuck with me, things would be working out better for you, now wouldn't they?"

The man snarled, "You son of a bitch, Seth! I gotta read about you finding in in the newspaper? After all this time, all the exhuming we done, you go and leave your old partner twisting in the wind? Like a tumbleweed? Is that what I am to you, Seth? A Tumble Weed? Cause I remember many a nights when it was cold, you actually missed your family and wished you could cuddle your wife and i was there I would always..."

Seth looked awkwardly at his two companions and cut him off mid sentence. "I have no idea what you're talking about, mister! No idea at all! You just shut your lying mouth!"

The man shrugged getting off of his horse and told him, "Well that's just fine,Seth. You wanna get down to business? Let's keep it simple. I want my half of the treasure you found, partner. Where is it?"

Seth laughed at him. "That's what this is about? I found it on my own! Me Its all mine! I found it by myself so I'm keeping it all! You just go on back to digging up graves like you used to. The treasure has all been paid in full for what its worth. I am a millionaire and i own my own business so the money keeps coming in. Our business partnership is over friend."

The man looked back at his own companions on horse back and Jack noticed they had Rifles and shotguns. "After all those graves I helped you dig? You just go on up to Tall Trees and forget about your obligation? Well I aint letting that happen, Seth! If you aint got any of the treasure left, then you can give me my share of the money and yo'll never have to see me again."

Seth turned to Jack and then back at the man. "You're a crazy man, Moses! I never dug up any graves! Twas you who got caught Twas you who dug up dead bodies! That was why we ended our friendship. You stole half my map, and you were defacing the dead. Why you oughta be ashamed of yourself!"

Moses screamed, "Why, you lying sack of shit!" He fired his Cattleman revolver twice and hit Seth in the abdomen. Seth cried out in pain and Moses fired again. Jack took the reins from Seth and made the horses go forward and Moses was knocked over nearly trampled over by he horses. With this, the men on horseback scattered but began opening fire. Jack returned fire with the Mauser he had and took out one of the men with five shots to the chest, a man in a duster outfit with a double barreled shotgun.

"Shit! Mr. Dickens, we gotta get this man to a doctor! You'd better get up here and steer this thing I'll keep these ugly rascals off our backs!" Jack barked and with that, they briefly stopped and Jack and Nigel West Dickens put the wounded man inside the carriage of the stagecoach while the two able bodied men would ride up top. Another cowboy, fired a Springfield and a bullet barely missed the head of Dickens. Jack,. with one hand, emptied the last ten rounds at the man and hit him twice in the chest, twice in the stomach, once in the neck and once in the temple. The other four rounds hit the horse which collapsed under the dead outlaw and the man rolled off the dead animal himself dying, and his blood stained the dirt road.

They got back onto the stage coach and began to retreat. The man, Moses screamed, "Get em, boys! Get that yella bellied sum bitch!"

Jack aimed down his sights and he fired hitting a man with sweaty matted down brown hair and gray eyes with a thick beard, twice in the chest. The man fell off the side of the horse but was still holding on and was dragged by it, and whether he died or not, he was in great pain, alive or right before having died. Jack aimed his own Evans and fired six shots rapidly dropping another one of Moses's men from his horse. Only one more followed. However as they came up the dirt road sending up dust the horses dashed through the land, they spotted more men on horse back riding toward them, firing at them.

Jack fired all the remaining rounds rapidly not even really bothering to aim which was regrettable because he only hit two of the five men as the shots went wild and the two men who had been hit were wounded but not dead. One of them, an Asian man dressed in a brown jacket and a black vest was shooting at Jack, having taken two bullets near the armpit. Jack reloaded and he felt a round hit him in the left arm. "Ahhhh! Shit! God damn son of a bitch!"

With that, he aimed down the sites and fired two shots at the Asian outlaw and one round caught him in his chest, the other in the side of the neck. The man held the neck wound and still rapidly emptied the Cattleman revolver at Jack but he missed due to his own blurred vision. Jack fired again and hit him in the right cheek bone. The round hit the man and he fell off of his horse. The remaining horse men gave chase and Jack aimed at one man, a black man in a white fancy shirt and a top hat. The man was firing a sawed off shotgun at the stage coach and a few of the pellets narrowly missed the already wounded, Seth so Jack turned around taking aim. He fired six shots at the man and three rounds hit the horse, two in its big chest and one in the head. One round went wide but the last two hit the man in his chest. He rolled from his dead horse struggling to get to his feet,

However by the time he could even manage to get his gun, Jack was a good distance from him and was so far away that the shot he let off did practically nothing as the gun was not good long range. Jack's Evans however, was. He aimed down the sights again and fired hitting the man in the center of his chest. The man fell, his good white shirt stained with red, the normally darker red color bright on his dark skin as well as his soiled shirt. The man was dead before he hit the ground, the bullet lodged in his heart buried in the side of it.

Jack had only twelve rounds left for all of those men. He aimed again, firing two shots. The first hit a man with a bald head an a tan hat and a red face in the side of the head which surprisingly did not kill him as he was still following. The man attempted to hang onto his horse as he felt himself falling. The man did fall off the horse and though he was alive and conscious despite the bullet wound to his head, the man hit the dirt, his head leaving a crimson stain on the road and he did not get up again.

Jack fired, finishing off the rest of the men, watching all them of them fall to the ground from their horses, one man being trampled underneath it, Jack finally relaxed as they were there. He reloaded again got off the stage coach. There was a doctors office not far from the warehouse. They took the unconscious man to it and Nigel West Dickens told the man, "Please see to it our good friend Seth Bryers survives and makes a full recovery. I can assure you, my good man, you will be fully compensated for your services."

Nigel West Dickens and Jack stood outside of the place and Jack looked to the older man. "So what now? What about the warehouse?"

Nigel looked back eagerly toward the entrance of the office and then told him "Listen, we should meet up back here in two days. Then we can head over to the warehouse. Its not that long of a walk from here at all. I understand you have a goal in mind and that you seek the other man that killed your father but we must be patient, my boy! These things take time! I can understand your anger and frustration towards our representatives of the US , they arrested me, just a few years ago, simply for trying to make a profit from my life changing elixirs! Come to think of it, your father got them to release me. If only they had kept their word and done the same for him!"

As he walked away, Jack lit a cigarette and said to himself more than anybody else, "Yeah...if only."

He decided he had better get something to eat soon and get that bullet wound looked at, not in that order. _I don't know where this other agent is but that bastard is just as much to blame as Edgar Ross and I'm gonna give him a slow and painful death._

* * *

_That's all for this update! I hope you liked this! I decided to have Moses Forth be somewhat of a temporary antagonist and to add Seth being in denial about his involvement in exhuming in the New Austin area. He actually did that and since John was who spent most of the time with him and is now dead, who would argue with him? While Nigel knew about what he does, he still was a swindler himself so he isn't taken seriously either by a lot of people._

_So I decided to have Jack meet the man from the I Know You mission and John cause i wonder what he would say on the way Jack ended up. Anyway that is all for this chapter I wanted to make Phillip Ross somewhat of a antagonist and the same as Archer. I still have Jack believing that Archer helped kill him as one would naturally assume. All though he didn't SEE Edgar kill John it was in the papers plus anybody who knows anything about Edgar would know Archer always rolled with him. So while he did NOT take part in the killing of John, he will still be the primary antagonist who will be trying to capture or kill Jack for killing Agent Ross._

_Plus when he fired the gun three times that is a reference to the last meeting John had with the stranger and he fired three bullets at him which went through him indicating he was supernatural, a deity some said God, others said the Devil but he said he was an accountant maybe he just works for God? I suggest reading the wikia site and what it has to say on the I Know You stranger quest._

_Plus when John fired the three shots and then his gun jammed, each bullet represented a person one for Abigail, one for John and one for Uncle all of whom perished between 1911 and 1914. The gun then jammed which means Jack was the only survivor. I was so intrigued by the I Know You quest that i studied it and I thought it would be cool if Jack saw something like what John had seen cause if you didn't do certain side requests as John you can as Jack but the mission I Know You is unique to John just as Remember My Family is a mission only Jack can do._

_It is strange how they did that but clever many people think the last mission is The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed but that's the last in game mission but the game doesn't end until you go to Blackwater as his son and take the steps needed to find Edgar Ross and kill him._

_OK enjoy!_


End file.
